mi 



OassIlS 4<S 




TRAVELS 

OF 

LA BROCQUIERE. 



THE 

TRAVELS 



OF 



BERTRANDON DE LA BROCQUIERE, 



COUNSELLOR & FIRST ESQUIRE-CARVER TO PHILIPPE 
LE BON, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, 



JERUSALEM OVERLAND TO FRANCE, 

DURING THE YEARS 1432 & 1433, 

Extracted and put into modern French from a Manuscript 
in the National Library at Paris, and published 

BY M. LE GRAND D*AUSSY, 

In the fifth Vol. of the Mem. de FInstitut, 




O PALESTINE, 



AND HIS 



RETURN 



FROM 



TRANSLATED BY 



THOMAS JOHNES, ESQ. 




mpcccvii, 



: Li 



TO THE 

MEMORY 

OF 

HIS MUCH-BELOVED SISTER 

ELIZABETH, 

WIFE OF JOHN H ANBURY WILLIAMS, ES2. 

OF COLDBROOK, MONMOUTHSHIRE, 

Who exchanged the present Life for a better on the 2\st March* 
M.DCCC.VI. 

THE 

FOLLOWING SHEETS ARE DEDICATED 

BY 

THOMAS JOHNES. 

Hafod, March xxu- A. D. m.dccc.vii. 




/ 



The mortal remains of the affectionate Relative 
ivhose name is recorded in the preceding page, 
and whose virtues will live, to his latest breath, 
in the remembrance of the translator of the 
following work, are deposited in the church of 
Llanfoyst, in Monmouthshire, — where, on a 
monument erected to her memory by her most 
disconsolate husband, is inscribed the following 
epitaph, composed by the Rev. Vf Mi Shepherd, 
of Gateacre in the county of Lancaster. 

Stranger, or Friend ! with silent steps and slow, 
Who wanderest pensive thro' this hallow'd gloom, 
Muse on the fleeting date of bliss below, 
And mark, with reverence due, ELIZA's tomb, 

For 'tis not Pride that rears this sculptur'd stone, 
To spread the honours of heraldic fame ! 
Here love connubial pours the plaintive moan^ 
And dews, with bitter tears, ELIZA's name. 

Here sad Remembrance fondly loves to dwell, 
And wrings with woe a widow'd husband's breast. 
While aye she points to the dark narrow cell, 
Where the cold ashes of ELIZA rest. 

Stranger, or Friend j hast Thou a partner dear ? 
Go, press her closer to thy aching heart : 
With silent wing the moment hastens near, 
The dreadful moment, when ye too must part ! 



A 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, 



ACCOUNTS of travels published by tfifc 
French have a very early origin. At the 
beginning of the fifth century, Rutilius 
Claudius Numatianus published one, which 
has been handed down to us incomplete, 
because death perhaps did not allow him 
to finish it. The object of his travels was 
his return from Rome to his own country of 
Gaul ; but as he came by sea, he could only 
describe the ports and harbours on the coast, 
and thence has necessarily resulted a monotony 
in his work, which a man of more genius 
would have surmounted. Besides, he wished 
to write a poem, which forced him to assume a 

i 



poetical tone, and to give poetical descriptions* 
or such as were so called. In fine, this poem 
is in the elegiac measure; and every one knows 
that this kind of versification, the property 
of which is to interest the idea every two 
verses, and to confine these verses to a perpetual 
return of an uniform cadence, is perhaps of all 
others the least suited to description. When 
the imagination has much to paint* when at 
every moment it has need of varied and brilliant 
pictures, it requires great freedom to display 
•with advantage all its riches : it cannot^ 
therefore, consequently accommodate itself to 
a double confinement, the infallible effect of 
which would be to extinguish its fire. 

A pagan in religion, Rutilius has shewn 
his aversion to the Christian doctrine in verses, 
where, confounding Christians and Jews, he 
speaks ill of both sects. 

It is in consequence of the same sentiments 
that, having seen on his voyage some monks 
in the island of Capraia, he wrote against 



3 

monks the following verses, which I shall 
quote to give my readers an idea of his 
style, 

r m , . . 

Squalet lucifugis insula plena viris. 
Ipsi se monachos, graio cognomine, dieunt, 

Quod, sob', nullo vivere teste, volunt. 
Munera Fortune metuunt, dum damna verentur \ 

Quisquam sponte miser, ne miser esse queat, 
Quaenam perversi rabies tarn crebra cerebri, 

Dum mala formides, nec bona posse pati ? ? 

His work contains curious details in 
geography, and even some for the antiquary 
and historian ; such, for instance, as his 
description of a saltmarsh, and the anecdote 
of the burning of the books of the Sybils at 
Rome by order of Stilico. There are also 
some good verses, and among them this in 
particular on a ruined town : * 

i Cernimus exemplis oppida posse rnori.' 

But his composition is bad : his descriptions 
are dry and cold, and his manner pitiful 
and mean; — no genius, no imagination; anql 



consequently no invention in the pictures he 
attempts to paint. 

Such is his work, at least so it has appeared 
to me ; and it is probably on account of these 
defects that his poem has been called by the 
degrading name of ' Itinerary,' under which 
it is known. There is a french translation 
of it by le Franc de Pompignan % 

About 5 05 9 Arculfus, a bishop of Gaul, 
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his 
return, he wished to publish an account of it,; 
and employed a scots abbot, called Adamanus, 
to arrange his manuscript notes and his own 
verbal account. The relation composed by 
Adamanus, entitled ' De Locis Sanctis,' and 
divided into three books, was first printed by 
Gretser, and afterward more completely by 
Mabiilon. Arculfus, having visited the holy 
land, embarked for Alexandria, thence he 
crossed over to the island of Cyprus, and 

* In the Melanges de Litter, et Poesie, bcc. par PAcad. de 
Montauban, p. 81. 



5 



from Cyprus he went to Constantinople, 
whence he returned to France. 

Such travels certainly promise a great 
deal ; and the man who had to describe 
Palestine, Egypt, and the capital of the 
eastern empire, might assuredly have made 
an interesting work. But the execution of 
so vast a design required philosophy and 
knowledge, in which his age was miserably 
deficient. It is a pilgrimage, and not travels, 
that the prelate has published. He neither 
makes us acquainted with the laws, manners, 
and usages of the people, nor with any thing 
that concerns the places or countries he passes 
through, but solely the relics and objects of 
devotion that were revered there. 

Thus, in his first book, which treats of 
Jerusalem, he tells us of the column to which 
Jesus was tied when he was scourged, — of the 
lance that pierced his side, — of his shroud, — - 
of a stone on which he knelt to pray, and 
which now bears the impression of his knees,— 



o 

of another stone from which he ascended to 
Heaven, and which bears the print of his 
feet, — of clothes worn by the Virgin, which 
represent his portrait, — of the fig-tree on 
which Judas hanged himself : — in short, of 
the stone on which St Stephen expired, &c. 

In his second book, he passes through 
Various parts of Palestine, visited by pilgrims, 
and follows them, in their errors. When at 
Jericho, he mentions the house of the harlot 
Rahab : in the plains of Mamre, he speaks 
of the tombs of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
Sarah, Rebecca and Leah ; at Nazareth, he 
tells us of the spot where the angel came to 
announce to Mary that, though a virgin, she 
should conceive; at Bethlehem, of the stone 
on which Jesus was washed on his nativity, — 
the tombs of Rachel, David, St Jerome, and 
of the three shepherds who came to the 
adoration, &c. 

The third book is, for the greater part, 
dedicated to Constantinople ; but he only 



9 



speaks of the true cross of St George, — of aft 
image of the Virgin which, having been 
thrown by a Jew into the most disgusting 
filth, had been picked up by a Christian, and 
a miraculous oil had flowed from it. 

For many ages, the descriptions of Palestine 
-contained nothing but the pious and coarse 
fables invented daily by the Orientals, to give 
credit to certain places which they endeavoured 
to institute as pilgrimages, and thus quietly 
draw to their own profit the money of the 
pilgrims. These last greedily swallowed every 
tale they heard , and scrupulously persevered 
an paying their devotions at all the places that 
had been pointed out to them. On their return 
to Europe, this was all they had to relate: but 
indeed this was all that was required from 
them. 

Nevertheless our saint (for at his death 
fee was declared such, as well as his editor 
Adamanus) gives us, in his second book, some 
historical account of Tyre and Damascus, 



3 

He speaks also more in detail respecting 
Alexandria; and I even find, under the last 
head, two facts that-have seemed to me worthy 
of attention. 

The first concerns the crocodiles, which 
he represents as so numerous in the lower part 
of the Nile, that the instant an ox, horse, or 
ass, enters the river to drink, they are seized by 
them, and dragged under water and devoured, 
whilst at this day, if we believe the unanimous 
accounts of modern travellers, crocodiles are 
only seen in upper Egypt ; and it is a sort of 
prodigy to see any near to Cairo, and thence 
to the sea there is not a single one. 

The other respects the island of Pharos 2 
on which Ptolomy Philadelphus constructed 
a tower containing fires, to serve as a land-mark 
to sailors, and which also had the name of 
Pharos. It is known that after the time of 
Ptolomy this island was joined by a mole to 
the main land, having a bridge at each 
extremity ; that Cleopatra completed th& 



9 



isthmus, by destroying the bridges and carrying 
on the mole; in short, that at this day the 
whole island is connected with the main land : 
nevertheless our prelate speaks of it in his time 
as if it were still an island, ' In dextera parte 
portus parva insula h&betur, in qua maxima 
turris est quam, in commune, Graeci et Latini, 
ex ipsius rei usu, Pharum vocitaverunh' He 
must doubtless have been mistaken ; but 
probably at the time he saw it the mole only 
existed, and the immense quantities of earth 
which make it part of the continent have 
been since added ; and he did not perhaps 
consider a dyke made by the hand of man 
capable of preventing an island from being 
What nature had formed it. 

In the ninth century, we had another 
sort of travels by Hetton, monk and abbot 
of Richenou, afterward bishop of Basil. He 
was an able man of business, and employed as 
such by Charlemagne, who sent him, in 811, 
ambassador to Constantinople, On his return 



10 

to France, he there published an account of' 
his mission, which, hitherto, has not been 
found, and which we ought to regret the 
more, as it would afford us many curious 
details respecting an empire, whose connections 
with France were then so numerous, and 
carried on with such activity. We should 
not, perhaps, consider it as totally lost : it 
may be possible that this manuscript, after 
remaining many centuries buried, accident 
may bring to the knowledge of some of our 
learned men, who will give it to the public. 

This has happened to the travels of 
another french monk, named Bernard, which, 
being published in 870 and lost, have been 
found again by Mabillon, and brought t© 
light. Like to those of Arculfus, they consist 
only of travels to the holy land, more concise, 
however, than his, and written with less 
pretension, but with the exception of a few 
details personal to the author, containing 
only a dry enumeration ©f the holy places, 



11 



which circumstance has caused this likewise 
to be entitled 4 De Locis Sanctis.' 

The route, however, of the two pilgrims 
was different. Arculfus sailed direct for 
Palestine, and thence re- embarked to visit 
Alexandria : on the contrary, Bernard first 
disembarks at Alexandria; he ascends the Nile 
as far as Babylon, descends it again to Damietta 2 
and, traversing the desert on camels, arrives at 
Gaza in the holy land. 

There he makes, like St Arculfus, different 
pilgrimages ; fewer, however, than the latter, 
whether from his profession not permitting him 
such expenses, or whether he has neglected to 
notice them, 

I shall only remark, that in certain 
churches new miracles had been invented 
since the time of the bishop, — miracles which 
lie certainly would have mentioned had they 
then existed ; for instance, that of the church 
of St Mary, wherein it was said no rain ever 
fell, although it was roofless. Such was the 



12 



miracle to which the Greeks have given so 
much celebrity, and which was performed 
yearly on Easter-eve, in the church of the 
holy sepulchre, when an angel descended from 
heaven to light the waxen tapers, furnishing 
the Christians of the town with a new fire, 
which was communicated to them by the 
patriarch, and which they devoutly carried 
with them to their homes. 

Bernard relates an anecdote, in his passage 
over the desart, deserving notice. He says, 
that the Christian and pagan merchants had 
established two caravansaries in this immense 
ocean of sand, — the one called Albara, the other 
Albacara, — where travellers might provide 
themselves with all things necessary for their 
journey. 

This author also informs us of a^ 
establishment formed by Charlemagne at 
Jerusalem, in favour of those who spoke 
6 la langue rcmane,' and of the existence 
of which the French, especially the men o£ 



13 



letters, will not hear without a sensible 
pleasure, 

Charlemagne, the glory of the west, had, 
by his conquests and great qualities, attracted 
the attention of the celebrated caliph Haroun 
al-Raschid, a man who had filled the east with 
his renown. 

Haroun, eager to testify to Charles 
the esteem and consideration he bore him, 
had sent him ambassadors, with magnificent 
presents: and these ambassadors, our historians 
say, were even charged to offer him the keys 
of Jerusalem, on the part of their master. 

Probably Charles had taken advantage 
pf this favourable opportunity to establish an 
hospital or receptacle in the town for pilgrims 
who should come from his french territories* 
Such was the spirit of the times. This sort 
of travels being thought the most holy that 
devotion could imagine, a prince who 
favoured them believed he deserved well 
from religion. Charlemagne, besides, had 



14 

a taste for pilgrimages; and his historian* 
Eginhard, observes with surprise, that in spite 
of his predilection for St Peter at Rome, he 
had paid his devotions there but four times in 

his life. 

A great man, however, often shews himself 
great in the midst of surrounding prejudices, 
Charles had been the restorer of letters in 
France : he had re-established orthography, 
regenerated writing, and formed handsome 
libraries : he would have his hospital at 
Jerusalem furnished with a good library 
also, for the use of the pilgrims; and the 
establishment was in the entire possession of it 
at the time of Bernard: 6 nobilissimam habens 
bibliothecam, studio imperatoris.' The emperor 
had even assigned twelve houses, situated in the 
valley of Josaphat, with their lands, vineyards 
anH gardens, for the support and repairs of the 

house, avid the maintenance of the pilgrims. 
Although Eginhard ought to have been 

Satiated with pilgrimages, he, however, made 



15 



one to Rome, on his return through Italy, and, 
when he entered France, another to St Michael's 
mount. 

In regard to this last, he observes that it 
is situated on a rock on the shore of the coast 
of Normandy, and washed twice a-day at high 
water by the waves of the sea. But he adds, 
that on the feast of the Saint, the access to the 
rock and to the chapel remains free, and that 
the ocean forms, like the Red Sea in the time 
of Moses, two great walls, between which the 
passage remains perfectly dry; and that this 
miracle only takes place on this day, and lasts 
the whole of it. 

Our national literature was in possession 
of four books of travels ; one to the coasts of 
Italy, one to Constantinople, and two to the 
holy land. In the thirteenth century, a very 
extraordinary ocurrence procured two to 
Tartary. 

This immense country, whose inhabitants, 
in various times and under different names, have 



16 

peopled, conquered, or ravaged the greater 
part of Europe and Asia, found itself, if I 
may so say, wholly in arms. 

Fanaticised by the incredible conquests of 
one of their chiefs, the famous Genghis-Khan, 
and persuaded that the whole earth owed them 
obedience, these warlike and ferocious wanderers 
had marched, after the conquest of China, to 
invade the north-eastern part of Europe, 

Wherever their innumerable hordes had 
passed, kingdoms had been ruined, whole 
nations exterminated, or dragged into slavery. 
Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, the frontiers of 
Austria, were ravaged in a horrible manner. 
Nothing could check this inundation; and if 
it felt any resistance in one quarter, it threw 
itself elsewhere with greater fury. In shorty 
all Christendom was panic-struck; and, to use 
the expression of one of our historians, ' il 
trembled to the shores of the ocean 

* La Chaise. Vie de St Louis, liv. v. p, 301* 



17 



In this general consternation, Innocent IV. 
wished to shew himself the common father of 
the faithful. He was, at the time, in Lyons, 
whither he had come to hold a council for the 
excommunication of the redoubtable Frederick, 
who had, three times before, been in vain 
excommunicated by his predecessors. There^ 
while overwhelming the emperor with all his 
thunders, Innocent formed a project, the idea 
alone of which announces his intoxication 
with power. It was nothing less than to send 
apostolical letters to the Tartars, to persuade 
them to lay down their arms, and embrace the 
Christian religion : ' ut ab hominum strage 
desisterent, et fidei veritatem reciperent *.* 
He gives these letters in charge to an 
ambassador, and this ambassador is a cordelier 
friar, called Jean du Plan de Carpin, (Joannes 
de Piano Carpini) who on Easter-day, in the 
year 1245, sets off with his companions, and, 

* Vincent, Bellovac. Spec. Hist, lib. x*xii. cap. 2, 



18 



on the road, picks up a third companion, 
a Polander, named Benedict. 

Whether the order of St Dominick was 
displeased to see such an honour conferred 
exclusively on the order of St Francis ; whether 
Innocent was alarmed for the safety of his 
ambassadors in so long and dangerous a 
journey ; or whether, from some other motive 
of which we are ignorant, he dispatched, by 
another route, a second embassy, composed 

solely of preaching friars. These last, 

amounting to five, had, for their principal,, 
one named Ascelin ; and among them was 
friar Simon de St Quentin, of whom I shall 
soon have occasion to speak. They were, like 
the Cordeliers, bearers of apostolical letters^ 
and were charged with the same orders 
respecting the Tartars, namely, to prevail 
on these people to abstain from' war of all 
kinds, and to receive baptism. 

De Carpin had, however, with the above 
instructions, received private and particular 



19 

ones to examine attentively, and to collect 
with care, whatever he should think worthy 
of notice among this people and country. He 
did so, and, on his return, published a relation 
composed with this view, and, consequently, 
entitled by him 6 GestaTartarorum.' In fact, 
all he says of his travels, and of what passed 
on his journey, is comprised in one single 
chapter. The seven others are filled w r ith 
descriptions of what relates to the Tartars, as 
to the soil of their country, their manners^ 
usages, conquests, mode of fighting, &c. 

I have discovered, among the manuscripts 
of the national library, (No 2477, at page 66) 
a more complete copy than that in Hackluyt, 
containing a tolerably long preface by the 
author, not in that edition. In short, at the 
epocha when these travels first appeared, 
Vincent de Beauvais had inserted the greater 
part in his 6 Speculum Historiale.' 

This friar Vincent, a dominican monk? 
reader or preacher to St Louis, had been desired 



20 



by that prince to undertake different works, 
which in fact he produced, and they now 
form a very considerable collection* Among 
the number is a long and heavy historical 
compilation, under the title of 4 Speculum 
Historiale,' in which he has inserted, or 
intermixed, the accounts of our traveller. 
To render it more interesting and complete, 
he has added, by a very happy thought, certain 
private details with which he was furnishec$ 
by his brother-monk, Simon de St Quentin, 
one of the associates of Ascelin in the second 
embassy. Having had an opportunity of 
seeing Simon on his return from Tartary, he 
learnt from him many things which he has 
inserted in various parts of his 6 Speculum 
JHistoriale,' particularly in the thirty-second 
and last book. There, from what he had 
written and published of Carpin, and what 
he had learnt from Simon's conversation, he 
makes a mixed relation, which he divides into 
fifty chapters, and this is the account known 



21 



to us. Bergeron has given a translation of 
it, in his collection of travels made during the 
twelfth and three following centuries. He has, 
however, thought proper to separate the two 
relations of Carpin and Simon, in order to have 
memorials of the second embassy as well as of 
the first. He has, consequently, detached six 
chapters from the recital of Vincent, attributed 
by him to Simon, making a separate article of 
them, under the name of Ascelin, the chief 
pf the second legation, which is all we know 
of it. As for the success of these two embassies, 
I do not think it worth mentioning, for it 
may easily be guessed what it must have been. 
The same attended two others sent by St Louis 
to those countries, though from a different 
motive. 

This monarch, in 1248, commenced his 
disastrous expedition to Egypt, and had just put 
into the island of Cyprus with his fleet, when he 
received, on the i 2th of December, in that island, 
§g embassy from the Tartars, the two principal 



22 



persons of which bore the names of David and 
Mark. These adventurers gave out that they 
were delegated to him by their prince, who 
had been lately converted to the Christian faith, 
and whose name they said was Ercalthay, 
They likewise affirmed that the great khan 
of the Tartars had also received baptism, as 
well as the chief officers of his court and army, 
and that he was anxious to form an alliance 
with the kino:, 

However gross this imposture may now 
seem, Louis could not help swallowing it. 
He resolved to send an embassy to these 
converted khans or princes, to congratulate 
them on their happiness, and to engage them 
to. favour and propagate the Christian religion 
within their dominions. The ambassador he 
named for this purpose was a preaching friar, 
called Andrew Longjumeau, or Lonjumel, 
to whom he added, as associates, two other 
Dominicans, two clerks ; and two officers cf 
his household, 



23 



David and Mark, the better to impose 
on him, affected to shew themselves fervent 
Christians : they attended with him all the 
services for the celebration of Christmas, 
and gave him to understand that a tent of 
scarlet cloth would be a most agreeable present 
to the khan. That was the object of these 
two knaves. The king instantly ordered 
a magnificent one to be made, and had 
embroidered on it the annunciation, the 
passion, and other mysteries of the Christian 
religion. To this present he added another, 
of every thing that was necessary, in vases 
and in silver plate, for the use of a chapel. 
In fine, he gave them relics, and some of the 
wood of the true Cross ; that is to say, what 
was in his opinion above all things in the 
world. 

But here I must not omit an observation, 
which shews the spirit of that roman court 
which believed itself to have the right of 
commanding every sovereign, namely, that 



£4< 

the legate whom the pope had placed in 
the king's army as his representative, and to 
order all things in his name, wrote, by means 
of these ambassadors, to the two tartarian 
princes, and in his letter announced that he 
adopted and acknowledged them as children 
of the church. He gained as much from his 
pretensions, and the advances made in his letter, 
as the king for his tent, his chapel and his relics. 
Longjumeau, on his arrival in Tartary, sought 
in vain for the prince Ercalthay, and this grand 
khan, who had been baptised with his whole 
court, and returned as wise as he had set out* 
He ought, nevertheless, to have gained some 
knowledge respecting the country ; for it was 
said he had travelled there before^ and when 
David appeared in the presence of the king 
at Cyprus, he pretended to know him, as 
having seen him formerly in Tartary. These 
circumstances have been transmitted to us by 
the historians of the times. As for himself, he 
has not left any account of his mission, and 



it may be thought he was ashamed of it, 
Louis had been so coarsely duped that he 
might also have felt some disgust, or at least 
have gained prudence from experience ; but, 
a very few years after, he again suffered himself 
to be deceived. It was in the year 1253, when 
he was still in Asia. 

Although, on obtaining his liberty from 
the prisons of Egypt, he was bound by 
every tie to return to France, where he had 
so many wounds to heal and tears to dry, an 
Ill-understood devotion had conducted him to 
Palestine, where, regardless of the duties he 
owed his subjects, and to himself as king, he 
not only lost two years, almost solely occupied 
in pilgrimages, but, in spite of the exhausted 
state of the finances of his realm, he expended 
very considerable sums in rebuilding and 
fortifying some trifling places of which the 
Christians of that country were still in th§ 
possession, 



<23 

During this time, a report was current 
that a tartarian prince, named Sartach, had 
embraced Christianity. The baptism of art 
infidel prince was, for Louis, one of those 
happy circumstances the charms of which it 
was impossible for him to resist. He therefore 
determined to send an embassy to Sartach, to 
compliment him on the occasion, as he 
had before done to Ercalthay. His former 
ambassadors were Dominicans; but he now 
fixed on the Franciscans, and appointed friar 
Guillaume Rubruquis the principal. Pope 
Innocent had also successively given an embassy 
to each of these orders of monks; and to follow 
such an example was the great delight of Louis. 
He had so tender an affection for each of them 
that his sole wish was, he said, to be able to 
divide himself into two, that he might give 
to each a half of himself. 

Rubruquis, on his arrival at the court of 
Sartach, might easily have satisfied himself 
of the falsehood of the tales which the eastern 



<21 



Christians every now and then propagated, 
concerning the pretended conversions of 
tartarian princes. That he might not wholly 
lose the fruit of his journey, he solicited this 
chief to permit him to preach the gospel in his 
dominions. Sartach replied, that he dared not 
take on himself the granting so extraordinary 
a request, and sent the converter to his father 
Baathu, who sent him to the grand khan. 

When Rubruquis and his companions 
presented themselves before this last prince, 
they were dressed in the copes of the church a 
one bore a cross and a missal, another 
a censor, Rubruquis himself the Bible and 
Psalter, and thus he advanced, supported by 
them, chaunting canticles. This spectacle 
which, from his monastic prejudices, he 
thought imposing, was but a burlesque, and 
produced no effect, not even the laughter of 
the Tartar ; and, without doubt, ill satisfied 
with a very useless journey, he returned to give 
account of it to the king, 



Louis was no longer in Syria. The death 
of his mother, queen Blanche, had at last 
recalled him to France, which he ought never 
to have quitted, but whither, however, he did 
not return until a further delay of a year. 
Rubruquis was preparing to follow him 9 
when he received an order from his superior 
not to leave the country, but to retire to the 
convent of St Jean d' Acre, and thence to write 
to the king, to inform him of the ill success of 
his mission. He obeyed, and sent the king 
an account, which time has preserved to us, 
and which, like the preceding one, has been 
translated by Bergeron. We are indebted for 
it to the overbearing temper of a jealous and 
harsh superior; for had the traveller obtained 
permission to follow the king, and attend his 
court, he would not, perhaps, have written any 
thing. 

Thus, therefore, of the four monkish 
embassies sent to Tartary, as well by pope 
Innocent as the king, the two Franciscans 



29 

only, Carpin and Rubruquis, have left us any 
accounts; and these works, although tinged 
with the modes of thinking of the age, and 
especially of the profession of those who 
wrote them, are precious objects to us for the 
interesting details they give of a distant country, 
at that time scarcely known by name, and with 
which, since that epocha, wc have not preserved 
any connection. 

The courage of Rubruquis cannot fail of 
being admired, who fears not to declare openly 
enough to the king, that David was an impostor 
who had deceived him. But Louis had the 
fanaticism of conversions and proselytism; and 
that, in some minds, is an incurable disorder. 

Duped twice, he was so a third time shortly 
afterward, respecting a king of Tunis, who, 
he was told, was desirous of receiving baptism. 
This baptism was a long time his chimera, and 
he looked forward to the day when he should 
be god-father to this prince, as the happiest of 
his life. He would have willingly consented! 



30 

to have passed the remainder of his days in the 
dungeons of Africa, if, at this price, he could 
have seen him a Christian. It was for the 
purpose of standing god-father to an infidel 
that he sailed to the coasts of Tunis, and lost 
& second fleet and a second army, and a second 
time disgraced the french arms, which had 
shewn such brilliancy at the battle of Bovines 9 
and at last perished by the plague, in the midst 
of a pestiferous camp, and thus merited, by 
the multiplied misfortunes of France, the 
qualifications of martyr and saint. 

With regard to Bergeron, every one musfe 
agree, that by publishing his translation he has 
done real service to literature and science ; 
and I am certainly very far from wishing to 
depreciate the merits of it. I am, however* 
convinced it would have been greater if he 
had not made too free a translation of the 
several pieces that form his collection, and ? 
above all, if he had not omitted so much of the 
priginals, which, indeed, spares us the detail of 



31 



many uninteresting circumstances, but which a 
at the same time, deprives us of the inestimable 
advantage of appreciating the author, and the 
age he lived in. He himself tells us, in a 
preliminary discourse to one of the travels 
which he has printed, ' that he had translated 
it from very coarse Latin, in which it was 
written, according to the taste of that age, to 
display it in our language with more clearness 
and elegance.' Hence it has happened, that 
when promising to give us travels of the 
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, he has 
given us modern ones, that have all nearly the 
same physiognomy, whereas they ought to have 
had their own proper features. 

The collection of Bergeron, though good 
for his time, is no longer so for ours. As it 
contains works full of errors, we should wish 
for notes, historical discussions, and learned 
remarks ; and perhaps a new edition of these 
ancient travels would be an useful undertaking:, 
and one which could not fail to be well 



received by the public, more especially if the 
original text was added to the translation. This 
translation, however, ought to be scrupulously 
faithful, and no omissions should be permitted; 
and extracts ought to be made of such parts 
as the translator might judge it expedient to 
retrench. It is not amusement a reader looks for 
in these works, but instruction. The moment 
any person attempts to disfigure such authors* 
by giving to them a modern turn of expression* 
for the use of the youth of both sexes, their 
works are ruined. Have you travels, whatever 
they may be, of such and such a century ? This 
is what I ask, and what you should make me 
acquainted with. 

If there be any one among our men of 
letters, who, to the knowledge of history and 
geography, unites courage and patience with 
the love of research, and whom the above 
undertaking does not alarm, I inform him, 
that in regard to the ' Speculum Historiale' 
there are in the national library four manuscript 



33 



copies, under the numbers 4898, 4900, 4901, 
4902. 

The two travellers of the 14th century, 
who have published their accounts, are not 
Frenchmen born; but, as both wrote originally 
in the french language, they belong to us under 
the title of authors, and, in this respect, I am 
bound to speak of them. One is Hayton, 
the Armenian, the other Mandeville, an 
Englishman. 

Hayton, king of Armenia, had been 
despoiled of his dominions by the Saracens, 
He applied for succour to the Tartars, who, 
in fact, took up arms, and re-established him 
on his throne. His negotiations and his 
travels appeared to him deserving of being 
transmitted to posterity, and, in consequence, 
he drew up some accounts of them, which, 
when on the point of death, he gave into 
the hands of Hayton, his nephew, lord of 
CourchL 

F 



34 



This last, after having taken a very active 
part, as well in the affairs of Armenia as in the 
wars which that kingdom had still to support, 
came to Cyprus, and made himself a Premonstre 
monk. It was in this island he learnt the french 
language, which, being carried thither by the 
Lusignans, was become the language of the 
court, and of all who were not of the lowest 
orders= 

From Cyprus the monk Hayton had passed 
to Poitiers, where he was desirous of publishing 
the memoirs of his uncle, and also an account 
of the events in which he himself had been 
an actor and witness. He called his work 
a History of the East, and intrusted the 
publication of it to another monk, named 
Faucon, to whom he dictated in French from 
memory. This work had such success that 
pope Clement V. ordered the same Faucon to 
translate it into Latin, that those who did not 
understand French might not lose theenjoymen*: 



35 



of it. The latin translation appeared in 1 307 ; 
and three manuscript copies of it are in the 
national library, under the numbers 7514, 
7515, A, and 6041. At page 180, at the 
end of No. 7515, is the following note of the 
editor, which confirms all that I have said of 
this book. 

' Explicit liber historiarum partium orientis, 
a religioso viro fratre Haytono, ordinis beati 
Augustini, domino Churchi, consanguineo regis 
Armeniae, compilato (compilatus) ex mandate 
summi pontificis domini Clementis papse quinti, 
in civitate Pictaviensi regni Franchie : quern 
ego Nicolaus Falconi, primo scripsi in gallico 
ydiomate, sicut idem frater H. michi (mihi) 
ore suo dictabat, absque nota sive aliquo 
exemplari *. Et de Gallico transtuli in 
Latinum ; anno Domini m.ccc. septimo, 
mense Augusti.' 

Bergeron has published the history of 
Hayton ; but instead of giving the original 
* The copy, No. 7314 ; adds, ? averbo ad verbvKU* 



56 



irench text, or at least the latin version of the 
editor, he has merely given a french version of 
this Latin, so that we have but a translation of 
a translation. 

In regard to Mandeville, he tells us, that 
this traveller composed his work in three 
languages, English, French and Latin. It is 
a mistake, for I have, at this moment, under 
my eye, a manuscript copy in the national 
library, No. 10,024, written in 1477, as a note 
at the conclusion by the copyist assures us. 
Now in this copy there is the following passage : 
c Je eusse mis cest livre en Latin, pour plus 
briefment delivrez (to proceed more quickly, 
to abridge the labour). Mais pour ce que 
plusieurs ayment et entendent mieulx Romans 
(le Francois) que Latin, l'ai-ge (je l'ai) mis 
en Romans, affin que chascun l'entende, et 
que les seigneurs et le chevaliers et aultres 
nobles hommes qui ne scevent point de Latin, 
ou petit, (peu) qui ont este oultre-mer, saichent 
se je dy voir (vrai) ou non,' 



Besides, at the time of Mandeville, the 
french language was spoken in England. It 
had been carried thither by William the 
conqueror, and none other was allowed to be 
taught in the schools. All law proceedings, 
and acts of parliament, were recorded in 
French ; and, when Mandeville wrote in 
French, it was his natural language. If he 
had used the Latin, it would have been with a 
view that other nations, ignorant of French, 
might read his work. 

In truth, his French shews the soil it 
comes from, by the many anglicisms and 
vicious expressions, the reasons for which are 
readily guessed, as it is known that the farther 
a rivulet flows from its spring-head the more 
altered the water becomes ; but I consider this 
as the smallest defect of the author : without 
taste, judgment or criticism, he not only 
admits into his work, indiscriminately, every 
tale and fable he hears, but forges the like 
himself at every memento 



38 



If we believe him, he embarked on 
Michaelmas-day in the year 1 332, and travelled, 
during thirty-five years, over the greater part 
of Asia and Africa. Well, reader, have the 
same courage as I have had, and peruse his 
book ; and if you shall allow that he may 
perhaps have seen Constantinople, Palestine 
and Egypt, (which, however, I am far from 
warranting) you will remain convinced that, 
most assuredly, he has never set foot in any of 
those countries which he describes as blindly, 
viz. Arabia, Tartary, India, Ethiopia, &c. 

If the fictions he imagines offered any 
amusement or interest,— if he only used the 
right of lying, which the greater part of 
travellers have so long been in possession of, 
he might be tolerated ; but in his travels the 
geographical errors are so gross, the fables so 
stupid, the descriptions of imaginary countries 
and people so ridiculous, — in short, absurdities 
so revolting, that I know not what name to 
give them. It would be disagreeable to treat 



39 



an author as an impostor 5 but how much 
more so to style him an impudent gabbler. 
Yet how can we otherwise treat a traveller, 
who tells us of giants thirty feet high ; of trees 
whose fruits are changed into birds that are 
eaten ; of other trees that daily spring from 
the earth, increasing in growth from sun-rise 
to mid-day, and then decreasing and re-entering 
the earth in the evenings ; of a perilous valley, 
the fiction of which he had borrowed from our 
old romances, wherein he meets with such 
incredible adventures, that he would infallibly 
have perished, if he had not prudently taken 
the sacrament; of a river that springs from 
the terrestrial paradise, and, instead of waters, 
Sows with precious stones. This paradise, 
which he says is 6 au commencement de la 
terre,' is situated so high, that ' il touche de 
pres la lune.' In short, a thousand other 
absurdities of the same sort, that mark not 
the errors of stupidity and credulity, but wilful- 
lies and deceit, 



40 

1 even consider in the same light the 
thirty-five years he says he employed to run 
over the world, without ever thinking of 
returning to his own country until the gout 
first tormented him. Although there exist 
three printed editions of his travels; one of 
1487 by Jean Cres, another of 1517 by 
Regnault, the third of 1542 by Canterel; they 
are scarcely known but in the short extract 
Bergeron has published of them. In fact* 
this editor found them so improbable and so 
fabulous, that he has reduced them to twelve 
pages, although our manuscript consists of one 
hundred and seventy-eight. 

In the fifteenth century, we had two other 
travels to the holy land ; the one which I am 
now about to translate, the other by a carmelite 
monk named Huen, printed in 1487, but of 
which I shall not say any thing here, as it is 
posterior to the other. 

The same reason prevents me from 
noticing a work published by Mamerot r 



41 



chaunter or canoa of Troyes. Beside, this 
work, entided 4 Passages faiz oultre Mer par 
les Roys de France et autres Princes et Seigneurs 
Francois contre les Turcqs et autres Sarrasins 
et Mores oultre-marins,' is not, properly 
speaking, travels, but an historical compilation 
of the different croisades that took place in 
France, and which the author, after the false 
chronicle of Turpin, and our romances of 
chivalry, has made to commence under the 
reign of Charlemagne. The national library 
possesses a magnificent copy of this book, 
ornamented with a great number of beautiful 
miniatures and pictures. 

I now come to the work of la Brocquiere ? 
but this also requires some explanation. 



THE 



SECOND PART, 



Th e folly of the croisades, like all other follies 
in France, had but a certain duration ; or, to 
speak more correctly, like to some fevers, it 
grew calm of itself after a few deliriums. Most 
assuredly the croisade of Louis lejeune and the 
two of St Louis, still more disastrous, had 
brought on the kingdom a sufficiency of shame 
and misfortunes to have made us believe this 
fanaticism extinguished for ever. Superstition, 
nevertheless, sought, from time to time, to 
rekindle the flame. Often at confession, and 
in certain cases that required public penance, 
the clergy imposed, for satisfaction^ pilgrimage 
to Jerusalem, or a croisade at a certain periods 



44 



Many times the popes employed the whole 
force of their politics, and the ascendancy of 
their authority, to renew, among the princes of 
Christendom, one of those holy leagues, where 
their ambition had so much to gain, without 
risking any thing but indulgences* 

Philippe le bel, through a pretence of 
zeal and religion, affected, for a moment, to 
form another croisade in France. Philippe 
de Valois, a prince the least qualified for so 
difficult an enterprise, and one which required 
so much talent, appeared, for some years, to 
occupy himself on this subject. He received 
an embassy from the king of Armenia, opened 
negotiations with the court of Rome, and even 
ordered preparations for one in the port of 
Marseille. In short, during the interval of 
these movements, in the year 1 332, a Dominican 
called Brochard, (sirnamed L'Allemand, from 
the name of his country) presented him with 
two latin works composed expressly for this 
purpose. 



45 



In one of them, which consists of a 
description of the holy land, he makes him 
acquainted with the country, the object of his 
intended conquest; and as he had resided 
twenty-four years in that country, in quality 
of missionary and preacher, few could allege 
so many reasons as himself for speaking of it. 

The other work, divided into two books, 
* Par commemoration des deux epees dont il 
est mention dans PEvangile,' subdivided into 
twelve chapters, * a l'honneur des douze 
Apotres,' treated of the different routes for 
an army to march thither ; of the precautions 
necessary to be taken for the success of the 
enterprise ; in fine, of the means to be adopted 
and pursued to insure the undertaking. With 
regard to this last, which solely concerns the 
marine, and the art of war, we are surprised 
to see such subjects handled by an author who 
was but a simple monk. But who does not 
know, that in the ages of ignorance, whoever 
h less ignorant than hi contemporaries 



4(3 



arrogates to himself the right of discussing 
every subject ? Besides, in the advice Brochard 
was giving to the king and his generals, his 
experience may have suggested some useful 
hints ; and, after all, since in the class of 
nobles, to whom these subjects belonged, no 
one, perhaps, could be found who had the 
same local knowlege, and an equal talent for 
writing on them, why may he not have 
hazarded that which they were unable to 
perform ? 

Whatever we may think of his motive, or 
the excuse offered, it seems that his work made 
a favourable impression on the king and his 
council ; for we see, at least by the continuator 
of the chronicle of Nangis, that the monarch 
sent, ' in terram Turcorum,' Jean de Cepoy, 
and the bishop of Beauvais, with a small body 
of infantry, ' ad explorandos portus et passus, 
ad faciendas aliquasmunitionesetpraeparationes 
victualium pro passagio terrae sanctae ;' and 
that this small troop, after having gained 



47 



some considerable advantages, considering the 
weakness of its force, returned to France in 
the year 1335. 

All this noise, however, of armaments,, 
preparations and menaces, with which the 
kingdom resounded for some years, ended in 
vain boasting. I doubt not but that, at the 
beginning, the king was in earnest : he had 
suffered his vanity to be dazzled by the 
brilliancy of a project that would fix the eyes 
of all Asia and Europe on him ; and moderate 
understandings are unable to resist the 
seduction of such chimeras. But, very soon., 
{ike all weak characters,fatigued with difficulties, 
he sought for a pretext to put an end to it, and* 
in consequence, demanded from the pope titles 
and money, which he refused to grant him. 
The expedition was then no longer talked of; 
and all it produced was to draw on the king 
of Armenia the vengeance of the Turks, for 
having gone to France to solicit a league, and 
succours against them. 



4S 

During the following century, similar 
Fain boastings took place at the court of 
Burgundy, though with a commencement 
apparently more serious. 

In the year 1432, one hundred years after 
the publication of these two works of Brochard, 
many great lords in the dominions of Burgundy, 
and holding offices under duke Philippe le bon, 
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Among 
them was his first esquire- carver, named la 
Brocquiere, who, having performed many 
devout pilgrimages in Palestine, returned sick 
to Jerusalem, and, during his convalescence* 
formed the bold scheme of returning to 
France overland. This would lead him to 
traverse the western part of Asia and eastern 
Europe, and, during the whole journey, 
except towards the end of it, through the 
dominions of Mussulmen. The execution of 
such a journey, even at this day, would not be 
without difficulties, and it was then thought 
impossible. It was in vain his companions 



49 



attempted to dissuade him from it : he was 
obstinate ; and, setting out, overcomes every 
obstacle, returns in the course of the vear 
1433, and presents himself to the duke in his 
saracen dress, which he had been obliged to 
wear, and on the horse that had carried him the 
whole of this astonishing journey. 

So extraordinary an adventure could not 
fail to produce a great effect at court. The 
duke had an anxious desire that the traveller 
should reduce his account to writing, with 
which he complied ; but the work did not 
appear for some years after, even posterior to 
the year 1438, since that period is mentioned, 
as will be seen hereafter. 

It was scarcely possible for the duke to 
have his esquire-carver daily in his presence 
and not to be sometimes desirous of questioning 
him about this land of inndels ; and as he 
must have heard his accounts when at table, 
his imagination could not avoid being heated, 

H 



50 



and he also must have formed chimeras of 
croisade and conquest. 

What makes me suppose that he put such 
questions to la Brocquiere, is the latter's having 
inserted in his travels a long discussion on the 
military force of the Turks, — on the means of 
combating it successfully, — and concluding., 
that even a small army, but well organised and 
conducted, might, without risk, march to 
Jerusalem. Assuredly such an episode, of so 
great a length, and with so important a 
conclusion, deserves notice in a work presented 
to the duke, and composed by his orders ; and 
we must agree, that it would have scarcely 
been placed there without design, or without 
a particular intention. 

In fact, we see that from time to time 
Philippe announced great schemes on this 
subject; but more occupied with pleasure than 
with glory, as the fifteen acknowledged bastards 
he left behind prove, all his vain boastings 
evaporated in words. At last, however, 



51 

there was a moment when all Christendom, 
alarmed at the rapidity of the conquests of 
the young and formidable Mohammed II. and 
at the immense armament he was preparing 
against Constantinople, thought there was 
no other mode of forming a barrier against 
him than a general league. 

The duke, from the extent and population 
of his dominions, was more powerful than 
many kings, and might have acted an important 
part in this coalition. He affected to make his 
appearance in it one of the first ; and to do it 
with eclat, he gave, at Lille in 14-53, a splendid 
and pompous feast, or rather spectacle with 
machinery , altogether very odd, very inconsistent 
in the multitude of its parts, but the most 
astonishing of the sort of any that history has 
handed down to us. This spectacle, which 
I have elsewhere described *, and which 

* M. le Grand d > Aussi refers, in a note, to his ' History 
of the private Life of the French,' for a description of this 
festival. As that book may not be much known in this 
country, I shall translate an account thereof. 



swallowed immense sums of money, that, in 
the present circumstances, might with ease 



4 Of all the entertainments that history has afforded us 
any details, there is none which equals that given by Pnilippe 
le bon, duke of Burgundy, at Lille, in the year 1453. It 
displays at once so much magnificence and so many puerilities, 
such variety of machinery and automata, so many actors and 
so many living animals, that I believe I shall gratify the 
curiosity of my readers by describing it. Monstrelet gives an 
abridged account ; but it is detailed at length by Matthieu de 
Couci and Olivier de la Marche. What, however, renders 
it interesting, is, that it was occasioned by one great event, 
and almost the cause of another. 

* Mohammed II. one of the most redoubtable and 
enterprising enemies the Christians had to encounter, menaced, 
at this moment, Constantinople, which, in fact, he besieged, 
and took some months afterward. The formidable armament 
he had prepared for this expedition had made all Europe 
tremble. It was thought that no other means remained to 
save Christendom than to form a general league and arm 
si gainst him ; and it was with this intent the duke of Burgundy 
gave his grand pantomime-entertainment. 

* In an immense hall three tables were laid out, that 
rnight, perhaps, more justly be called theatres, considering the 
number of machines that were placed on each. That for the 
duke was square, and had four ornaments. 

' 1 . A church with its bell and organ, with four chaunters 
to play on it, and sing when their time of acting should require it, 

' 2. A statue of a naked child, placed on a rock; who. 
from his ' broquette pissait eau-rose.' 



53 



have been better employed, concluded with 
some vows of arms, as well on the part of the 

4 3. A vessel, larger than what would serve to navigate 
on the seas, having on board a numerous crew, who performed 
all the manoeuvres as if they had been really at sea. 

4 4. A rivulet that ran through a meadow ornamented 
with shrubs and flowers : rocks, studded with saphires and 
other precious stones, served as a boundary to it ; and in the 
centre was a figure of St Andrew, from the end of whose cross 
spouted out a stream of water. 

£ On the second table were seen nine ornaments. 

' 1 . A sort of pasty, in which were inclosed twenty 
eight musicians, men and children, who were each to play on 
a different instrument during certain interludes of the feast. 

* 2. The castle of Lusignan, with its ditches and 
towers : from the two smallest, a stream of orangeade ran into 
the ditches ; and, on the highest tower, Melusina was seen 
disguised as a serpent. 

' 3. A windmill placed on a hillock. A magpie was 
fixed on one of the sails, which served for a mark to all sorts 
of persons, who amused themselves with shooting with 
cross-bows. 

' 4. A vineyard, in the midst of which were placed 
two casks, as emblems of those containing good and evil. 
One held a sweet and the other a bitter liquor. A man richly 
dressed, seated cross-legged on one of the casks, held in his 
hand a paper, by which he offered the choice of his liquors to 
all who might wish to taste them. 

* 5. A desert country, where a tvger was represented 
fighting with a serpent. 



54 



duke as of several of the lords of his court ; 
and this was the whole result of it. It took 

6 6. A savage mounted on a camel, seeming on the 
point of making a long journey. 

4 7. A man with a long pole, beating a bush wherein 
many small birds had taken refuge. Near to it was an orchard 
inclose i by a trellis of roses, with a knight seated by his 
mistress's side, who caught and eat the birds the other drove 
from the bush. A kind of satirical allegory, ingenious enough, 
and which probably gave rise to the proverbial expression, 4 to 
beat the bush for another. 

4 8 . Mountains and rocks covered with hanging icicles, 
among which a fool was seen mounted on a bear. 

4 9. 4 lake surrounded by various towns and castles* 
A vessel was on it sailing with all her sails set. 

4 The third table, smaller than the preceding ones, had 
tut three decorations. 

6 1 . A travelling merchant, as passing through a village 
with his pack on his back. 

' 2. An indian forest full of automata of various 
animals walking about. 

' 3 • A lion fastened to a tree, near which was a man 
beating a dog. 

4 On the right and left of the buffet, which was set off 
with vases of chrystal, cups ornamented with gold and precious 
stones, and an immense quantity of gold and silver plate, were 
two columns: one bore the statue of a naked woman, from 
whose right breast flowed hippocras during supper-time ; the 
lower parts of her body were covered with a napkin loaded 
with greek letters of a violet colour. 



55 



place in February, and Mohammed captured 
Constantinople in May. 

* To the other column, a living lion was fastened, by 
an iron chain. He was there placed to guard the naked woman, 
as the inscription in golden letters on a shield announced — * Do 
not touch the lady.' 

' It is probable the naked woman, with the greek 
letters, was intended to represent Constantinople despoiled, — 
the lion, who forbade any one to touch her, the duke of 
Burgundy, — and the man who beat the dog in presence of 
the lion, sultan Mohammed. 

* Beside the number of machines I have described, the 
hall contained five scaffolds for those spectators who were not 
of the supper, and particularly for the great crowds of foreigners 
whom the report of this feast had brought to Lille. 

* On the entrance of the duke and his court, he walked 
about for some time to examine the various decorations ; afcer 
which he sat down to table, and the maitres d'hotel sensed up 
the supper. 

* Every course consisted of forty-four dishes, each of 
which was lowered down from the roof by machinery, on 
cars painted blue and gold, and with the device of the duke. 

* The moment he was seated with his guests, the bell 
of the church tolled, and, instantly, three little choristers came 
eut of the pasty, and began to sing a very sweet air, by way 
of grace : they were accompanied by a shepherd on his pipe. 
Shortly after, a horse entered, escorted by fifteen or sixteen 
knights in the livery of the duke. He moved backward, and 
bore on his bare back two masked trumpeters, seated back 
to back j and in this manner he made the circuit of the hail 



56 



The news of this disaster, the horrible 
massacres that followed the conquest, and the 

backward, attended by the knights, the two trumpeters playing 
all the time symphonies. 

6 When they had quitted the hall, the organ of the 
church was heard, and one of the musicians in the pasty 
played on a german horn. A great automata, representing 
an enormous wild boar, now entered, having on his back a 
monster, half a savage and half a griffin ; and this monster 
bore also a man on his shoulders. They had no sooner 
departed than the chaunters in the church sang an air, and 
three of the musicians in the pasty executed a trio : one played 
on the doucaine (dulciana, probably dulcimer), the second on 
the lute, and the third on another instrument. 

* Such were the different amusements that formed the 
accompaniments to the first course : all, excepting the music, 
were farces foreign to the feast. Those of the second course 
had as little connection ; but they were preparatory to the last, 
in which the object of this entertainment was to be pathetically 
explained. 

4 The entertainment of the second course consisted of 
a dramatic pantomime that represented the conquest of the 
golden fleece by Jason, — a kind of allegory that recalled to 
the spectators the order of the golden fleece, which the duke 
had instituted twenty-three years before. 

' For this spectacle, a small theatre had been erected at 
one end of the hall, and which a large green silken curtain had 
hid from the eyes of the assembly. On a sudden, a symphony 
of clarions was heard behind this curtain : it was drawn up. 
and Jason was seen lighting with, and bringing to the yoke. 



57 



incalculable consequences it might have oa 
Christendom, spread universal alarm. The 

two bulls that vomited flames of fire, to whom had been 
committed the defence of the garden of the Hesperides. The 
hero next combats a monstrous dragon, cuts off his head and 
tears out his teeth. He then ploughs a field with the bulls he 
had tamed, sows there the teeth of the dragon, and instantly 
an army of soldiers spring from the earth, who fight together 
most bitterly, and alternately kill each other. 

* The three acts of this sort of opera did not 
Immediately follow: the spaces between each act were 
filled up by interludes in the taste of those of the preceding, 
The first consisted of a youth who entered the hall mounted 
on a large white stag, when they both sang a duo ; then 
a fiery dragon, who flew round the hall. A hawking scene 
was next presented, when two falcons were seen to strike 
down a heion, which was instantly presented to the duke. All 
these interludes were accompanied either by pieces on the 
organ, by the chaunters in the church, or by the musicians 
in the pasty, who every time executed an air on a different 
instrument. 

' These successive spectacles, however, were but, as 
I have said, a preliminary amusement, — or, to borrow the 
expressions of the two authors from whom I make this 
extract, were but 4 a worldly pastime,' given to the spectators 
to entertain them until the time of the grand scene, the scene 
which was to explain the subject of this feast, and the real 
cause of it. 

' It was opened by a giant dressed with a turban in the 
^norisco fashion, and clothed in a long robe of striped green 

I 

\ 



58 



duke then thought it incumbent on him to 
declare his intentions otherwise than by feasts ? 

silk. He held in his left hand a guisarme of the antique mode, 
and with his right led an elephant. This animal bore on its 
back a tower in which was a female to represent the church : 
she had on her head a white veil, after the manner of nuns : 
her robe was of white satin, but her mantle was black, to 
mark her grief. When she was come near to where the 
duke sate, she sang a triolet to have the giant stopped, and 
then made a long complaint in verse, in which having displayed 
the many ills she w T as suffering from the infidels, she implored 
succour from the duke and the knights of the fleece then 
present. 

* Different officers now entered with the king at arms, 
of the order of the golden fleece, followed by two knights of 
the order, each leading a damsel, one of whom was natural 
daughter to the duke. The king at arms bore a live 
pheasant, decorated with a collar of gold and precious 
stones : approaching the duke, he made a profound obeisance, 
and said, that it being the custom at grand festivals to offer 
to the princes and gentlemen a peacock, or some noble bird, 
for them to make a vow upon, he was come with two ladies 
to offer to his valour a pheasant. 

4 The duke, in reply to this proposition, gave to the king 
at arms a billet written in his own hand, that he had prepared 
before hand, the substance of which was read aloud, as follows. 
He there vowed, to God pre-eminent, then to the glorious 
virgin, his mother, and afterward to the ladies, and to the 
pheasant, that if the king of France, his lord paramount, or any 
other princes, would undertake a croisade against the Turks, 
he would accompany or follow them ^ and that he himsejjf 



59 



and announced a croisade. He consequently 
levied large sums from his people, even formed 
an army, and marched into Germany : but on 

would combat the sultan body to body, if he would accept 
his challenge. The lady representing the church having 
thanked him, she made the circuit of the hall with her 
elephant, during which time almost ail the princes and 
great lords present made vows on the bird of the most 
extravagant nature — such as not to drink wine, not to be 
seated at table, or not to lie down one day of the week, 
until they should have met the infidel army — or have 
been the first to attack it — or have overthrown the banner 
of the sultan — or to return to Europe without bringing with 
them a Turk prisoner. In short, one made a vow, (which 
will give an idea of the religion of these new croisaders) that 
if he could not obtain the last favours of his mistress before his 
departure, he would marry the first damsel he should meet that 
had twenty thousand crowns. 

< When the vows were ended, a troop of musicians 
entered, accompanied by a great number of lighted torches. 
Twelve ladies followed, every one attended bv a knight : each 
personified a virtue. They formed a dance, and thus the 
festival ended. 

' All this noisy vain boasting had no effect. The duke 
levied large sums from his territories under pretence of this 
croisade, and even advanced into Germany, when a convenient 
illness made him return home ; and this pretended lion permitted 
Mohammed to beat the dog without any opposition.' 

For further particulars, see * THistoire de la Vie privee- 
4e$ Francois, 8 



60 

a sudden the raging lion stopped, — a very 
convenient illness served for a pretext, and 
he returned home again. 

He nevertheless affected to talk of croisades 
as before, and ordered one of his subjects, Joseph 
Mielot, canon of Lille, to translate for him into 
French the two treatises of Brochard that 
I have before noticed. In short, when pope 
Pius II. convoked at Mantua, in 1459, an 
assembly of Christian princes, to form a league 
against Mohammed, he did not fail to send 
thither his ambassadors, at the head of whom 
was the duke of Cleves. 

Mielot finished his work in 1455, as the 
short preface at the beginning informs us: the 
two translations are in one of the manuscripts 
which the national library has lately received 
from Belgium. They are written in the same 
hand with the travels of la Brocquiere. 

Although of the three works, this ought 
to have appeared before the other two, 
nevertheless the whole three, whether from 
economy in binding or from analogy of 



61 



matters, have been united together, and thus 
form a thick folio volume, numbered 314, 
bound in wood, covered with red sheepskin, 
and lettered on the back, * Avis directif de 
Brochard.' 

This manuscript, from the writing, 
preservation, miniatures, and fineness of the 
vellum, is very valuable; but its value is 
greatly increased by other considerations, for 
in my opinion it has been composed from 
original treatises presented by their authors to 
Philippe le bon, or from the copy commanded 
by him to be made by one of his copyists from 
the handwriting of the authors, placed perhaps 
in his library. 

I think I see a confirmation of this 
assertion, not only in the beauty of the MS. 
and in the escutcheon of the prince, which is 
emblazoned in four places, and twice with his 
motto, 6 Aultre n'aray,' but also in the vignette 
of one of the two frontispieces, as well as in 
the miniature of the other. This vignette,, 



62 



•which is at the beginning of the volume^ 
represents Mielot on his knees presenting 
his book to the duke, who is seated and 
surrounded by several courtiers, three of 
whom are decorated, like himself with the 
collar of the golden fleece. In the miniature 
preceding the travels, la Brocquiere is seen in 
the same attitude. He is dressed as a Saracen, 
and has near him his horse, which I have before 
mentioned. 

With regard to duke Philip, sirnamed 
the Good, this is not the place to examine 
whether he has truly deserved so glorious a 
title, and whether history has not many 
reproaches to make him of more than one 
kind. But, as a man of letters, I must not 
omit saying, in honour to his memory, that 
learning has many obligations to him, and that 
he was one of the princes from Charlemagne 
to Francis I. who have done the most for it ; 
that in the fifteenth century he was in the two. 
Burgundies, and in Belgium particularly, what 



6$ 



in the preceding century Charles V. had beett 
in France, and that, like Charles, he had 
formed for himself a library; had ordered 
translations and original works ; had encouraged 
men of letters, draughtsmen and able copyists ; 
in fine, that he perhaps rendered to the sciences 
more real services than Charles, because he was 
less superstitious. 

I shall give, in 6 the History of French 
Literature,' which I am now writing, details 
on all these different facts. I have discovered 
numerous proofs of them in the manuscripts 
that have passed from Belgium to France, or, to 
speak more correctly, in the manuscripts of the 
library from Brussels, which constituted one of 
the most considerable parts of what came from 
that country. This library, which in regard 
to the french part of it, is especially confided 
to my care, and consequently has been almost 
wholly perused by me, was composed from, 
the libraries of private persons, of whom the 
principals $re as follow : 



0* 



Imo, Acertain numberof manuscripts that 
had formerly composed the library of Charles V. 
of Charles VI. of John duke of Berri, brother 
to Charles V. and which, during the troubles 
of the kingdom under Charles VI. and at the 
beginning of the reign of his son, were stolen 
and carried away by the dukes of Burgundy. 
Those of John are known from his signature, 
written by himself on the last page of the 
volume, and sometimes in many other places. 
Those that belonged to the two kings of France 
have the shield of France emblazoned, and 
have dedicatory epistles, with miniatures, 
representing the authors presenting their books 
to the monarch, who is clothed in the royal 
mantle. There are other manuscripts, taken 
from the foregoing libraries, but for the theft 
of them I cannot produce such authentic 
proofs, because, in the number, many are not 
ornamented with miniatures, or had not been 
presented to the king, and therefore bear not 
such marks as those before mentioned ; but I 



can produce, in proof that they have been 
acquired by the like means, so many probabilities^, 
and plausible conjectures, that they are, in my 
eyes, equivalent to proof-positive. 

2dd, Manuscripts that legitimately belonged 
to the dukes of Burgundy, that is to say, which 
were either acquired by them, or dedicated and 
presented to them, or commanded by them 3 
whether as original works or as simple copies* 
In the class of those dedicated, the greater 
number have been inscribed to Philippe lebom 
Of those written by command, almost the 
whole were for him ; and this confirms what I 
before said, of the obligations literature has to 
him, and what he did for it. 

Mw 9 Manuscripts, which having belonged 
to great lords in the dominions of Burgundy, 
or to private persons, have passed at different 
times, and by some means or other, into the 
Brussels library. Among them, we must 
particularly notice those of Charles de Croy, 
count of Chimay, godfather to the emperor 



66 

Charles V. knight of the golden fleece, created 
by Maximilian, in I486, prince of Chimay. 
His manuscripts are pretty numerous, and 
bear, for a distinctive mark, his arms, and hi§ 
signature written by himself. 

It results from the above, that in regard 
to the merits of the Brussels collection in French, 
it can scarcely offer any but modern manuscripts. 
I have indeed seen very few that were valuable 
for their antiquity, their rarity, or the subject 
of the work ; but many are curious for their 
writing, their preservation, and especially for 
their miniatures ; and these last will be 
interesting objects to persons who, like me, 
shSl undertake a history of the arts in the 
lower ages. They will prove, that in Belgium 
the flourishing state of some manufactures had 
considerably advanced the progress of the arts 
of painting and drawing. But I return to the 
three treatises of our volume. 

I shall say but one Word on Brochard's 
description of Palestine, because the original 



61 



Latin having been printed it is known, and 
because Mielot, in the preface to his translation, 
assures us, of what I am myself convinced of, 
that he has not added any thing of his own. 
Brochard, on his part, insists on his exactness. 
He not only remained twenty-four years in that 
country, but traversed it in its double diameter 
from north to south, from the foot of Libanus 
to Beersheba, — and from west to east, from 
the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. In 
short, he descrioes nothing, which to use the 
words of his translator, ' he had not bodily 
seen, he himselt being on the spot.' 

The translation begins at page 76 of our 
volume, and has this title : 6 Le livre de la 
description de la terre-saincte, fait en l'onneur 
et loenge de Dieu, et compile jadis, Tan 
M. m c . 3cxxii. par frere Brochard, 1'Alernant, 
de Tordre des. Prescheurs.' 

His second work being unpublished, 
I shall speak of it more fully, but solely from 
the translation by Mielot. The work is. 



m 

divided into two parts, and is entitled, < Advi$ 
dircctif,' (counsels for marching) pour faire le 
passage d'oultre mer.' 

For this expedition, says Brochard, there 
are two different ways, by land and by sea ; and 
he advises the king to use them both at the same 
time,— the first for his army, the second for the 
transport of provision, tents, machines and 
ammunitions of war, and for such as are 
accustomed to the sea. This would require 
from ten to twelve galleys, which by negotiations 
may be obtained from the Genoese orV enetians. 
These last have possession of Candia,Negropont 
with other islands and important places on the 
continent. The Genoese have Pera, near to 
Constantinople, and Caffa in Tartary. These 
two nations are beside well acquainted with the 
winds and seas of Asia, with the language, the 
islands, shores and ports of that country. 

Should the voyage by sea be preferred, 
the ports of Aigues-mortes, Marseille or Nice 
Slay be chosen to embark from ; and the island 



69 



of Cyprus would serve for a harbour to receive 
them, in like manner as St Louis put in there. 
But many inconveniencies arise from a sea 
voyage, as well as the remaining so long on 
board ship, which generally causes disagreeable 
sicknesses in man and horse. This voyage 
must depend also on the winds, and there is 
always reason to fear tempests, and the ill 
effects of change of climate. It even often 
happens, that when it is intended merely to 
put into a port, the vessel is detained by 
contrary winds. Add to these dangers, the 
wines of Cyprus, which are naturally too 
ardent : if you mix water with them, you 
destroy their flavour, — and if you do not, they 
affect the brain and burn the entrails. When 
St Louis wintered in this island, his army 
suffered all these inconveniences ; for there 
died two hundred and fifty counts, barons and 
knights, of the highest nobility in his army. 

There is another passage, including sea 
$nd land, and which offers two roads, — the 



V 



70 

one through Africa, the other through Italy. 
That through Africa is extremely dangerous, 
on account of the fortified castles near which 
you must march, the risk of wanting provision^ 
the desert you must pass through, and Egypt. 
The road itself is also of an immense length ; 
for if you set out from the streights of Gibraltar, 
you will have 2500 miles to march before you 
can arrive within two short days journey of 
Jerusalem : if you set out from Tunis, £400* 
Conclusion — the road through Africa is 
impossible, and must not be thought of. 

The route through Italy presents three 
different roads : one through Aquileia, Istria* 
Dalmatia, the kingdom of Rassia (Servia), 
and Thessalonica, the greatest city of Macedonia^ 
which is but eight short days journey from 
Constantinople. This was the route followed 
by the Romans, when they made war in the 
east. These countries are fertile, ' but inhabited 
by people disobedient to the church of Rome, 
With regard to their valour and boldness, to. 



71 



resist, they are beneath notice, not being in 
any respect superior to women.' 

The second is through la Puglia. The 
embarkation must take place at Brundusium, 
to disembark at Durazzo, which belongs to 
my lord the prince of Tarentum. The army 
would then advance through Albania, Blaque 
and Thessalonica. 

The third, in like manner, traverses la 
Puglia ; but it passes through Otranto, Corfou, 
which belongs to my foresaid lord of Tarentum, 
Desponte, Blaque, Thessalonica. This was the 
road followed at the first croisade by Robert 
earl of Flanders, Robert duke of Normandy, 
Hugh brother to king Philippe L and Tancred 
prince of Tarentum. 

After discussing the passages by sea, and 
by sea and land, Brochard examines the one 
wholly by land. It traverses Germany, 
Hungary and Bulgaria, and was taken by 
the greater part of the armies of France and 
Germany at the first croisade, under the conduct 



t>2 



of Peter the hermit, and is that which the 
author advises the king to follow. But when 
in Hungary there is the choice of two roads j 
the one through Bulgaria — the other through 
Sclavonia, which constitutes part of the 
kingdom of Rassia. Godfrey of Bouillon, his 
two brothers, and Baldwin count of Mons, 
took the first road. Raimond comte de Saint 
Gilles, and Audemare bishop of Puy, and 
legate" from the holy see, followed the second, 
although some authors pretend that they took 
that through Acquileia and Dalmatia. 

Should the king adopt this passage 
overland, the army, when in Hungary, might 
be divided into two, and then, for the greater 
convenience of forage, each party might take 
separate roads; the one through Bulgaria, the 
other through Sclavonia. The king should 
follow the first road, as being the shortest. 
With regard to the Languedocians and 
Proven9als, who are near to Italy, they may- 
be permitted to go by way of Brundusium 



13 



xmd Otranto. Their rendezvous would be at 
Thessalonica, where they would meet the main 
body which had marched through Aquileia,, 
To this advice, as to the advantages and 
inconveniences of the different roads, the 
Dominican adds some others respecting the 
princes through whose states it would be 
necessarv to pass, and on the resources which 
may be found in these several states. 

La Rassia, he says, is a fertile country, 
with five gold mines, five of filver, and many 
hiore producing gold and silver, at work. No 
more than one thousand horse and six thousand 
infantry, would be wanted for the conquest of 
this country, and 1 it would be an agreeabk 
■and acceptable jewel to gain.' 

The author wishes that no treatv of alliance 
should be made with this king, nor with the 
greek emperor ; and, the better to strengthen 
his proposition, he relates some particulars 
as to the persons of these two monarchs, and 
especially of the first, whom he calls an 

u 



7* 



usurper. As for the other, he not only insists 
that neither peace nor truce should be made* 
but that war should be declared against him. 

In consequence, he points out the means 
to besiege Constantinople, Adrianople and 
Thessalonica; and as from what has happened* 
he no way doubts of what may again happen* 
that is to say, the capture of Constantinople, he 
proposes divers regulations for the government 
of the empire of the east, when it shall be a 
second time conquered, and for bringing it 
again under the roman religion* 

He concludes his ' Avis directifs,' by 
warning the croisaders to be on their guard 
against the perfidy of the Greeks, as well as 
against the Syrians, the Hassassins, and other 
people of Asia. He enters into a detail of the 
plots that will be laid for them, and shews 
the manner of avoiding them. 

Brochard, in his first part, has conducted 
(he host of our Lord by land to Constantinople, 
and made it capture the town. In the second 



75 



part, he causes it to pass the Dardanelles, 
and leads it into Asia. He is, however, 
perfectly acquainted with these countries ; for, 
independently of his twenty-four years residence \ 
in Palestine, he had travelled over Armenia, 
Persia, the grecian empire, &c. 

According to him, the cause of the ill 
success of the kings of France and England, 
in the preceding croisades, was the ill-judged 
attacks they made on the Turks and the sultan 
of Egypt at the same time. He proposes to 
make war only on the Turks, and to have them 
alone for enemies. To do it with success, 
he gives descriptions of Turkey, called by the 
Greeks, Anachely (Anatolia). He points out 
the means, of securing provision for the army 
by sea, and gives the well-founded hope of 
victory over a people necessarily abandoned 
by God, because their malice is accomplished, 
and internally weakened by intestine wars, and 
from the want of leaders, — whose cavalry is 
composed of slaves, having little courage or 



16 



industry, with small weak horses, badly armed 
with turfcsh bows and haubergeons of leather, 
which may more properly be called cuirasses * 5 
over a people, in short, who only fight as 
they retreat, and who, after the Greeks and 
Babylonians, are the most worthless of all the 
cast in deeds of arms. 

The author declares, at the conclusion, 
that in all that country there is scarcely a nation 
which he has not seen march to battle ; and 
that the single power of France, without any 
aid whatever, may defeat, not only the Turks 
and Egyptians -j- , but also the Tartars, 
excepting solely the Indians, Arabians and 
Persians. 

The Brussels collection contains another 
«opy of the 6 Advis directif, 5 on paper in folio, 

* The haubert and haubergeon (a lighter sort of 
haubert) were a kind of netted shirts of iron, which fell half 
way down the thigh. The turkish haubergeons, on the 
contrary, were so short, they might, according to our author, 
be called by the name of cuirasses. 

t The Turks and Egyptians ! ! friar Brochard, yo^ 
forget Louis le jeune and St Louis. 



11 



with miniatures, No 352. This makes a 
volume of itself. The vignette represents 
Brochard writing at his desk ; and in the next 
miniature, he is presenting his book to the 
king : this is followed by another miniature, 
where the king is seen on his march to the 
holy land. 

I have also found, in the same collection, 
the two latin treatises of the author, united in 
one volume folio on paper, No. 319, bound 
in red sheepskin. The title of the first is 
6 Directorium ad passagium faciendum, editum 
per quemdam fratrem ordinis predicatorum, 
scnbentem experta et visa potius quam audita; 
ad serenissimum principem et dommurn 
Philippum regem Francorum, anno Domini 

M.CCC. XXXII.' 

The title of the second is, 6 Libellus de 
terra sancta, editus a fratre Brochardo, 
Theutonico, ordinis fratrum predicatorum.* 
At the end of this copy, we read that it was 
written by Jean Reginald!, canon of Cambray, 



7S 



As the other is undoubtedly of the same 
handwriting, I am convinced it must also 
have been written by Reginaldi. 

It now remains for me to make my readers 
acquainted with our third french work, the 
travels of la Brocquiere, which I am about to 
publish. 

The author was a gentleman, as may easily 
be seen, when he speaks of horses, strong 
castles, and tiltings. His account is out an 
itinerary, which is often somewhat monotonous, 
particularly in the descriptions of countries and 
towns ; but this itinerary is interesting to the 
history and the geography of the times. There 
will be found in them very precious materials, 
and sometimes sketches and pictures not 
without merit. 

The traveller is a man of a prudent 
and sensible mind, full of judgment and 
understanding. The impartiality he displays, 
when he speaks of the infidel nations with 
which he has had occasion to be acquainted? 



19 



will be admired, particularly his account 
of the Turks, whose good faith, according 
to him, was greatly superior to that of 
many Christians. He has scarcely any of 
the superstition of his age, but the devotion 
to pilgrimages and relics : at the same time, he 
shews little faith in the authenticity of the relics 
which were displayed before him. 

With regard to pilgrimages, it will be 
seen by the perusal of his book how they had 
been multiplied in Palestine ; and his work 
will be for us a memorial which, on one hand, 
will convince us of the blind credulity of our 
western devotees in adopting these pious fables, 
and, on the other hand, of the criminal tricks 
of the Christians in the holy land, who had 
invented them to wheedle out the money from 
the pockets of the croisaders and pilgrims, and 
gain an income at their expense. 

La Brocquiere writes, like a military man, 
in a frank and manly style, which announces 
yeracity and inspires confidence ; but he also 



so 

tvrites negligently, so that his subject is noC 
always very clearly arranged, and at times he 
begins to relate a fact, the continuation of 
wnich is in some distant pages. Though this 
confusion be rare, I have taken the liberty t® 
correct, and to unite what was before divided. 

Our manuscript has the same defect as 
the greater part of other manuscripts, in the 
orthography of certain names, which frequently 
vary in every page, and even sometimes in two 
sentences that follow each other. I may be 
blamed, perhaps, for noticing these variations 
of a language which, though at that time 
instable, is now fixed ; for instance, he writes, 
Anteriche, Aulkerich, Austrice, and Ostriche. 

This I have corrected, and shall do the 
same with those names the spelling of which 
does not vary in the manuscript, but which 
are differently written at this day. Other names 
are completely changed, and, are no longer the 
same. We do not now call the Black Sea ' k 
Mer Majeure,' nor the Danube 4 la Dunoe. 8 



81 



I am aware that it will be matter of 
objection against me, that I have done wrong 
in giving to an author expressions which were 
neither his own, nor those of his time; but 
having well weighed the advantages and 
inconveniences of a very literal translation, 
I have been satisfied that so rigorous an 
exactness would render the text unintelligible 
and fatiguing for the generality of readers ; and 
that, if we would have an author understood, 
we must make him speak as he would have 
spoken himself, had he been living among us* 
In short, there are things of which good sense 
ordains the suppression or change ; and it 
would be ridiculous, for instance, to say like 
la Brocquiere, 6 un seigneur hongre,' for 6 un 
seigneur hongrois 6 des Chretiens vulgaires,' 
for 6 des Chretiens buigares,' 



M 



s 



THE 

TRAVELS 

O F 

JLA BROCgUIERE. 



HERE BEGINS THE JOURNEY OF BERTRANDON 
DE LA BROCQUlkRE TO THE HOLY LAND, 
IN THE YEAR OF GRACE ONE THOUSAND 
FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO. 

TTo animate and inflame the hearts of such 
noble men as may be desirous of seeing the 
world, and by the order and command of the 
most high, most powerful, and my most 
redoubted lord, Philippe, by the grace of God, 
duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant and 
Limbourg, count of Flanders, Artois and. 



Burgundy*, palatine of Hainault, Holland, 
Zealand and Namur, marquis of the holy- 
empire, lord of Friesland, Salins and Mechlin, 
I, Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, a native of the 
duchy of Guienne, lord de Vieux-Chateau, 
counsellor, and first esquire-carver to my 
aforesaid most redoubted lord, after recollecting 
everv event, in addition to what I had made 
an abridgement of in a small book by way 
of memorandums, have fairly written out 
this account of my short travels, in order 
that if any king, or Christian prince, should 
wish to make the conquest of Jerusalem, 
and lead thither an army overland, or it any 
gentleman should be desirous of travelling 
thither, each of them may be made acquainted 
with all the towns, cities, regions, countries, 
rivers, mountains and passes in the districts, as 

* Burgundy was divided into two parts, the duchy and 
county. The last, since known under the name of Tranche 
Comte, began, at this period, to take that appellation; and this 
is the reason why our author styles Philippe duke and courtf. 
of Burgundy. 



85 



well as the lords to whom they belong, from 
the duchy of Burgundy to Jerusalem. 

The route hence to the holy city of Rome 
is too well known for me to stop and describe it. 
I shall pass lightly over this article, and not 
say much until I come to Syria. I have 
travelled through the whole country from 
Gaza, which is the entrance to Egypt, to 
within a day's journey of Aleppo, a town 
situated on the north of the frontier, and which 
we pass in going to Persia. 

Having formed a resolution to make a 
devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and being 
determined to discharge my vow, I quitted, in 
the month of February, in the year 1432, the 
court of my most redoubted lord, which was 
then at Ghent. After traversing Picardy, 
Champagne, Burgundy, I entered Savoy, 
crossed the Rhone, and arrived at Chambery 
by the Mont-du-Chat. 

Here commences a long chain of 
mountains, the highest of which is calle4 



Mount Cenis, which forms a dangerous pass 

for travellers in times of snow. The road is 
so difficult to find, that a traveller, unless he 
wish to lose it, must take one of the guides 
of the country, called 6 Marrons.' These 
people advise you not to make any sort of 
noise that may shake the atmosphere round 
the mountain, for in that case the snow is 
detached, and rolls with impetuosity to the 
ground. Mount Cenis separates Italy from 
France. 

Having thence descended into Piedmont, 
a handsome and pleasant country, surrounded 
on three sides by mountains, I passed through 
Turin, where I crossed the Po, and proceeded 
to Asti, w T hich belongs to the duke of Orleans; 
then to Alexandria, the greater part of the 
inhabitants of which are said to be usurers, — to 
Piacenza, belonging to the duke of Milan, — and 
at last to Bologna la Grassa, part of the pope's 
dominions. The emperor Sigismund was at 
Piacenza: he had come thither from Milajfc 



87 



where he had received his second crown, and 
was on his road to Rome in search of the 
third * 

From Bologna I had another chain of 
mountains (the Appenines) to pass, to enter 
the states of the Florentines. Florence is a 
large town, where the commonalty govern. 
Every three months they elect for the 
government magistrates, called Priori, who 
are taken from different professions; and as 
long as they remain in office they are 
honoured, but on the expiration of the 
three months they return to their former 
situations. 

From Florence I went to Monte Pulciano, 
a castle built on an eminence, and surrounded 
on three sides by a large lake (Lago di Perugia), 

* In 1414 Sigismund, elected emperor, had received the 
silver crown at Aix la Chapelle. In the month of November 
1431, a little before the passage of our traveller, he had j 
received the iron crown at Milan; but it was not until 14^3 
he received at Rome, from the hands of the pope, that of j 
gold. 



88 



thence to Spoleto, Monte-Fiascone, and at 
length to Rome. 

Rome is well known. Authors of veracity 
assure us, that for seven hundred years she was 
mistress of the world. But although their 
writings should not affirm this, would there 
not be sufficiency of proof in all the grand 
edifices now existing; in those columns of 
marble, those statues, and those monuments 
as marvellous to see as to describe. 

Add to the above the immense quantities 
of relics that are there, — so many things that 
our Lord has touched, such numbers of holy 
bodies of apostles, martyrs, confessors and 
virgins, — in short, so many churches where 
the holy pontiffs have granted full indulgences 
for sin. 

I saw there Eugenius I V. a Venetian, who 
had just been elected pope*. The prince of 

* We shall see, hereafter, that la Brocquiere left Rome 
on the 25 ch march, and Eugenius had been elected on the first 
days of the month. 



89 



Salernum had declared war against him i he 
was of the Colonria family, and nephew to 
pope Martin *. 

I quitted Rome the 25th of March* and, 
passing through a town belonging to the 
count de Thalamone, a relation to the cardinal 
des Ursins, arrived at Urbino ; thence, through 
the lordships of the Malatestas,came to Rimini, 
part of the Venetian dominions. I crossed three 
branches of the Po, and came to Chiosa, a town 
of the Venetians, which had formerly a good 
harbour; but this was destroyed by themselves, 
when the Genoese came to lay siege to Venice. 
From Chiosa, I landed at Venice, distant 
twenty-five miles. 

Venice is a great and handsome town, 
ancient and commercial, and built in the 

* Martin V. predecessor to Eugenius, was a Colonna ; 
and there was a declared enmity between his family and that 
of the Orsini. Eugenius, when established in the holy chair, 
took part in this quarrel, and sided with the Orsini against the 
Colonnas, who were nephews to Martin. The last took up 
arms, and made war on him. 



90 

fniddle of tVie sea. Its different quarters being 
separated by water form so many islands, so 
that a boat is necessary to go from one to the 
other. 

This town possesses the body of St Helena, 
mother of the emperor Constantine, as well as 
many others that I have seen, especially several 
bodies of the holy innocents, which are entire. 
These last are in an island called Murano, 
renowned for its manufactories of glass. 

The government of Venice is full of 
wisdom. No one can be a member of the 
council, nor hold any employment, unless ha 
be noble and born in the town. It has a duke, 
who is bound to have ever with him, during 
the day, six of the most ancient and celebrated 
members of the council. When the duke dies, 
his successor is chosen from among those who 
have shewn the greatest knowledge and zeal 
for the public good. 

On the 8th of Mav, I embarked to 
accomplish my vow, on board a galley, with 



91 



some other pilgrims. We coasted Sclavonia, 
and successively touched at Pola, Zara, 
Sebenico and Corfou. 

Pola seemed to me to have been formerly 
a handsome and strong town, with an excellent 
harbour. We were shewn at Zara the body of 
St Simeon, to whom our Lord was presented 
in the Temple. The town is surrounded on 
three sides by the sea, and its fine port is shut 
in by an iron chain. Sebenico belongs to the 
Venetians, as does Corfou, which, with a very 
handsome harbour, has also two castles. 

From Corfou we sailed to Modon, a good 
and fair town in the Morea, under the same 
masters ; thence to Candia, a most fertile 
island, the inhabitants of which are excellent 
sailors. The government of Venice nominates 
a governor, who takes the title of duke, but 
who holds his place only three years. Thence 
to Rhodes, where I had but time to see 
the town: to Baffa, a ruined town in the 



32 



island of Cyprus, — and at length to Jaffa, in 
the holy land of promise. 

At Jaffa, the pardons commence for 
"pilgrims to the holy land. It formerly 
belonged to the Christians, and was then 
strong : at present, it is entirely destroyed, 
having only a few tents covered with reeds, 
whither pilgrims retire to shelter themselves 
from the heat of the sun. The sea enters the 
town, and forms a bad and shallow harbour : 
it is dangerous to remain there long for fear of 
being driven on shore by a gust of wind. 
There are two springs of fresh water; but one 
is overflowed by the sea, when the westerly 
wind blows a little strong. When any pilgrims 
disembark there, interpreters and other officers 
of the sultan * instantly hasten to ascertain 
their numbers, to serve them as guides, and 

* The, sultans of Egypt are here meant. Palestine 
and Syria were at that time under their power. The sultan 
will be often mentioned in the course of the work. 



93 

to receive, in the name of their master, the 
customary tribute. 

Ramie, the first town we came to from 
Jaffa, is without walls, but a good and 
commercial town, seated in an agreeable and 
fertile district. We went to visit, in the 
neighbourhood, a village where my lord Saint 
George was martyred ; and, on our return to 
Ramie, we continued our route, and arrived, 
after two days, at 4 the holy city of Jerusalem, 
where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered death 
for us.' 

After performing the customary pilgrimages, 
we performed those to the mountain where 
Jesus fasted forty days ; to the Jordan, where 
he was baptised ; to the church of Saint 
John, near to that river ; to that of Saint 
Martha and St Mary Magdalen, where our 
Lord raised Lazarus from the dead ; to 
Bethlehem, where he was born ; to the birth 
place of St John Baptist ; to the house of 
Zachariah ; and, lastly, to the holy cross, where 



9b 



the tree grew that formed the real cross, after 
which we returned to Jerusalem. 

The Cordeliers have a church at 
Bethlehem, in which they perform divine 
service, but they are under great subjection to 
the Saracens. The town is only inhabited by 
Saracens, and some Christians of the girdle *. 

At the birth-place of St John Baptist, a 
rock is shewn, which, during the time of 
Herod's persecution of the innocents, opened 
itself miraculously in two, when St Elizabeth 
having therein hid her son, it closed again of 
itself, and the child remained shut up, as it is 
said, two whole days. 

Jerusalem is situated in a mountainous and 
strong country, and is at this day a considerable 

* The caliph Motouakkek, in the year 235 of the 
Hegira, or the 856th of the Christian aera, ordered the 
Christians and Jews to wear a broad girdle of leather, and 
they wear it to this day in the east. From that epocha, the 
Christians of Asia, and especially those of Syria, who are 
mostly Jacobites, or Nestorians, were called Christians of the 
'Gir4Ie. 



95 



town, although it appears to have been much 
more so in former times. It is under the 
dominion of the sultan, to the shame and grief 
of Christendom. Among the free Christians, 
there are but two Cordeliers who inhabit the 
holy sepulchre, and even they are harrassed by 
the Saracens : I can speak of it from my own 
knowledge, having been witness of it for two 
months. In the church of the holy sepulchre 
reside also many other sorts of Christians : 
Jacobites, Armenians, Abyssinians from the 
country of Prester John, and Christians of 
the girdle ; but of these the Francs suffer the 
greatest hardships. 

"When all these pilgrimages were 
accomplished, we undertook another, equally 
customary, that to St Catherine's on Mount 
Sinai. For this purpose we formed a party of 
ten pilgrims, sir Andre de Thoulongeon, sir 
Michel de Ligne, Guillaume de Ligne, his 
brother, Sanson de Lalaing, Pierre de Vaudrey, 
Godefroi de Thoisi, Humbert Buffart, Jean de 



93 

la Roe, Simonet (his family name is left blank) 
and myself*. 

For the information of others, who like 
myself, may wish to visit this country, I shall 
say, that the custom is to treat with the chief 
interpreter at Jerusalem, who receives a tax for 
the sultan, and one for himself, and then sends 
to inform the interpreter at Gaza, who, in his 
turn, negotiates a passage with the Arabians 
of the desert. These Arabs enjoy the right of 
conducting pilgrims ; and, as they are not 
always under due subjection to the sultan, 
their camels must be used, which thev let to 
hire at ten ducats a head. 

The Saracen, who at this time held 
the office of chief interpreter, was called 

* These names, of which the five first are of great 
lords in the states of the duke of Burgundy, shew that several 
persons of the duke's court had formed a company for this 
pilgrimage to Palestine, and are, probably, those who 
embarked with our author at Venice, although he has nor 
before named them. Toulongeon was created, this same 
year I 432, a knight of the golden fleece, but was not invested 
with the order; for he was then a pilgrim, and died on the road. 



Nanchardin. Having received the answer 
from the Arabs, he assembled us before the 
chapel, which is at the entrance and on the 
left of the holy sepulchre: he there took down 
in writing our a«;es, names, surnames, aud very 
particular descriptions of our persons, and sent 
a duplicate of this to the chief interpreter at 
Cairo. These precautions are taken for the 
security of travellers, and to prevent the 
Arabs from detaining any of them ; but I am 
persuaded that it is done likewise through 
mistrust, and through rear of some exchange 
or substitution that may make them lose the 
tribute-money. 

When on the eve of our departure, we 
bought wine for the journey, and laid in a 
stock of provision, excepting biscuk, which 
we were to find at Gaza. Nanchardin having 
provided asses and mules to carry us and our 
provision, with a particular interpreter, we 
set off, 



98 

The first place we came to was a village 
formerly more considerable, at present inhabited 
by Christians of the girdle, who cultivate vines. 
The second was a town called St Abraham, 
and situated in the valley of Hebron, 6 where 
our Lord created our first father Adam.' In 
that place arc buried together, Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob, with their wives ; but this sepulchre 
is now inclosed within a mosque of the Saracens. 
We were anxious to see it, and even advanced 
to the gate ; but our guides and interpreter 
assured us they dared not suffer us to enter in 
the day-time, on account of the dangers they 
should run, and that any Christian found 
within a mosque is instantly put to death, 
unless he renounce his religion. 

After the valley of Hebron, we traversed 
another of greater extent, near to which the 
mountain whereon St John performed his 
penitence was pointed out to us. Thence we 
crossed a desert country, and lodged in one of 



99 



those houses built through chanty, and called 
Khan : from this khan, we came to Gaza. 

Gaza, situated in a fine country near the 
sea, and at the entrance of the desert, is a 
strong town, although uninclosed. It is 
pretended that it formerly belonged to the 
famous Samson. His palace is still shewn, 
and also the columns of that which he pulled 
down ; but I dare not affirm that these are the 
same. 

Pilgrims are harshly treated there; and 
we should have likewise suffered, had it not 
been for the governor, a man about sixty 
years of age, and a Circassian, who heard our 
complaints, and did us justice. Thrice were 
we obliged to appear before him : once, on 
account of the swords we wore, — and the two 
other times, for quarrels which the Moucres 
Saracens sought to have with us. 

Many of us wished to purchase asses; for 
the camel has a very rough movement, which 
is extremely fatiguing to those unaccustomed 



100 



to it. An ass is sold at Gaza for two ducats ; 
but the Moucres not only wanted to prevent 
our buying any, but to force us to hire asses 
from them, at the price of five ducats to Saint 
Catherine's. This conduct was represented to 
the governor. For myself, who had hitherto 
rode on a camel, and had no intentions of 
changing, I desired they would tell me how 
I could ride a camel and an ass at the same 
time. The governor decided in our favour, 
and ordered that we should not be forced to 
hire any asses from the Moucres against our 
inclinations. 

We here laid in fresh provision necessary 
for the continuation of our journey ; but on 
the eve of oar departure, four of my companions 
fell sick, and returned to Jerusalem. 1 set off 
with the five others, and we came to a village 
situated at the entrance of the desert, and the 
only one to be met with between Gaza and 
St Catherine's. Sir Sanson de Lalaing also 
there quitted us, and returned ; so that 



101 



our company consisted of sir Andrew de 
Toulongeon, Pierre de Vaudrei, Godefroi de 
Toisi, Jean de la Roe, and myself. 

We thus travelled two days in the desert 
absolutely without seeing any thing deserving 
to be related. Only one morning I saw, 
before sun-rise, an animal running on four 
legs, about three feet long, but scarcely a palm 
in height. The Arabians fled at the sight of 
it, and the animal hastened to hide itself in a 
bush hard by. Sir Andrew and Pierre de 
Vaudrei dismounted, and pursued it sword 
in hand, when it began to cry like a cat on the 
approach of a dog. Pierre de Vaudrei struck 
it on the back with the point of his sword, but 
did it no harm, from its being covered with 
scales like a sturgeon. It sprung at sir 
Andrew, who, with a blow from his sword, 
cut the neck partly through, and flung it on 
its back, with its feet in the air, and killed it. 
The head resembled that of a large hare : the 
feet were like the hands of a young child, with 



102 



a pretty long tail, like that of the large green 
lizard. Our Arabs and interpreter told us it 

was very dangerous *. 

At the end of the second day's journey, 
I was seized with such a burning fever that it 
was impossible for me to proceed further. My 
four companions, distressed at this accident, 
made me mount an ass, and recommended me 
to one of our Arabs, whom they charged to 
reconduct me, if possible, to Gaza. 

This man took a great deal of care of me, 
which is unusual, in respect to Christians. Fie 
faithfully kept me company, and led me in the 
evening to pass the night in one of their 
camps, which might consist of fourscore and 
some tents, pitched in the form of a street. 
These tents consist of two poles stuck in 
the ground by the bigger end, at a certain 
distance from each other, and on them is 

* From this vague description, it should seem that the 
animal spoken of was the great lizard, called Monitor, because 
|t is pretended that it gives information of the approach of a 
crocodile. As for the terror of the Arabs, it was groundless, 



103 



placed another pole cross-way, and over this 
last is laid a thick coverlid of woollen, or 
coarse hair. 

On my arrival, four or five Arabs, who 
were acquainted with my companion, came to 
meet us. They dismounted me from my ass 5 
and laid me on a mattress which I had with 
me, and then, treating me according to their 
method, kneaded and pinched me so much with 
their hands *, that from fatigue and lassitude 
I slept and reposed for six hours. 

During all this time no one did me the 
least harm, nor took any thing from me. It 
would, however, have been very easy for them 
so to do ; and I must have been a tempting 
prey, for I had with me two hundred ducats, 
and two camels laden with provision and 
wine. 

I set out, on my return to Gaza, before 
day; but when I came thither, I found neither 

* This is what is called in French ' Masser,' a method 
used in everal parts of the east for certain disorders. 



104 



my four companions who had remained behind 
nor sir Sanson de Lalaing. The whole five 
had returned to Jerusalem, carrying with them 
the interpreter. Fortunately I met with a 
Sicilian Jew to whom I could make myself 
understood; and he sent me an old Samaritan, 
who, by some medicines which he gave me, 
appeased the great heat I endured. 

Two days after, finding myself a little 
better, I set off in company with a moor, who 
conducted me by a road on the sea-side. We 
passed near to Ascalon, and thence traversed 
an agreeable and fertile country to Ramie, where 
I regained the road to Jerusalem. 

On the first day's journey, I met on my 
road the governor of that town, returning 
from a pilgrimage w T ith a company of fifty 
horsemen and one hundred camels, mounted 
principally by women and children, who had 
attended him to his place of devotion. I passed 
the night wirh them, and the morrow, on my 
return to Jerusalem, took up my lodgings 



105 



with the Cordeliers at the church of Mount 
Sion, where I met again my five comrades. 

On my arrival, I went to bed, that my 
disorder might be properly treated ; but T was 
not cured, or in a state to depart, until the 
19th of August. During my convalescence, 
I recollected that I had frequently heard it 
said that it was impossible for a Christian to 
return overland from Jerusalem to France. 
I dare not, even now when I have performed 
this jou. ncy, assert that it is safe. I thought, 
nevertheless, that nothing was impossible for 
a man to undertake, who has a constitution 
strong enough to support fatigue, and has 
money and health. It is not, however, 
through vain boasting that I say this ; but, 
with the aid of God and his glorious mother, 
who never fail to assist those who pray to them 
heartily, I resolved to attempt the journey. 

I kept my project secret for some time, 
without even hinting it to my companions ; 
I was also desirous, before I undertook it, 

p 



106 

to perform other pilgrimages, especially those 
to Nazareth and Mount Tabor. I went, in 
consequence, to make Nanchardin, principal 
interpreter to the sultan, acquainted with my 
intentions, who supplied me with a sufficient 
interpreter for my journey. I thought of 
making my first pilgrimage to Mount Tabor, 
and every thing was prepared for it ; but when 
I was on the point of setting out, the head of 
the convent where 1 lodged dissuaded me, and 
opposed my intentions most strongly. The 
interpreter, on his side, refused to go, saying, 
that in the present circumstances I would not 
find any person to attend me ; for that the road 
lay through the territories of towns which 
were at war with each other, and that very 
lately a Venetian and his interpreter had been 
there assassinated. 

I confined myself therefore to the second 
pilgrimage, in which sir Sanson de Lalaing 
and Humbert wished to accompany me. We 
left sir Michel de Ligne sick at Mount Sion. 



107 



and his brother William remained, with his 
servant, to attend on him. The rest of us set 
off on the day of mid- August *, with the 
intention of going to Jaffa by way of Ramie, 
and from Jaffa to Nazareth; but, before I 
departed, I went to the tomb of our lady, to 
implore her protection for my grand journey 
home. I heard divine service at the Cordeliers, 
and saw there people who call themselves 
Christians; 4 but some of them are very strange 
ones, according to our manner.' 

The principal monk at Jerusalem was so 
friendly as to accompany us as far as Jaffa, 
with a cordelier friar of the convent of 
Beaune. They there quitted us, and we 
engaged a bark from the Moors, which carried 
us to the port of Acre. 

This is a handsome port, deep, and well 
inclosed. The town itself appears to have 
been large and strong; but at present there 

* Is not this a contradiction to what he says just before i — T\ 



108 



do not exist more than three hundred houses, 
situated at one of its extremities, and at some 
distance from the sea. With regard to our 
pilgrimage, we could not accomplish it. Some 
Venetian merchants, whom we consulted, 
dissuaded us, and, from what they said, we 
gave it up. They told us, at the same time, 
that a galley from Narbonne was expected at 
Baruth ; and my comrades being desirous to 
take that opportunity of returning to France, 
we consequently followed the road to that 
town. 

We saw, on our way thither, Sur, an 
inclosed town, with a good port, then Seyde, 
another sea-port tolerably good. Baruth has 
been more considerable than it is now, but its 
port is still handsome, deep, and safe for 
vessels. On one of its points we see the 
remains of a strong castle which it formerly 
had, but which is now in ruins*. 

* Sur is the ancient Tyre, — Seyde, Sidon, — Baruth, 
B&ite$, What la Brocquiere here says is interesting fop 



109 



As for myself, solely occupied with my 
grand journey, I employed the time we staid 
in this town in seeking information concerning 
it ; and to this end addressed myself to a 
genoese merchant, called Jacques Pervezin. 
He advised me to go to Damascus, assuring 
me that I should find there merchants from 
Venice, Catalonia, Florence, Genoa, and 
elsewhere, whose counsels might guide me. 
He even gave me a letter of recommendation 
to a countryman of his, named Ottobon 
Escot. 

Being resolved to consult Escot before 
I proceeded farther, I proposed to sir Sanson 
to go and see Damascus, without, however, 
telling him any thing of my project. He 
accepted my proposal with pleasure, and we 
set out under the conduct of a Moucre. I have 
before said that the Moucres in Syria are the 

geography : it proves that all these sea-ports of Syria, formerly 
so commercial and famous, but at this day so degraded and 
completely useless, were, in his time, for the greater part, fit 
for commerce, 



110 

people whose trade is conducting travellers, and 
hiring out to them asses and mules. 

On quitting Baruth, we had to traverse 
some high mountains to a long plain, called 
the valley of Noah, because it is said, that 
Noah there built the ark. This valley is not, 
at the utmost, more than a league wide ; but 
it is pleasant and fertile, watered by two rivers, 
and peopled by Arabs. 

As far as Damascus, we continued to 
travel between mountains, at whose feet are 
many villages and vineyards. But I warn 
those who, like me, shall have occasion to 
make this journey, to take good care of 
themselves during the night, for in my life I 
never felt such cold. This excess of cold is 
caused by the fall of the dew, and it is thus 
throughout Syria. The greater the heat during 
the day, the more abundant the dew, and the 
cold of the night. 

It is two days journey from Baruth 
to Damascus. The Mohammedans have 



Ill 



established a particular custom for Christians 
all through Syria, in not permitting them to 
enter the towns on horseback. None, that 
are known to be such, dare do it, and, in 
consequence, our Moucre made sir Sanson and 
myself dismount before we entered any town. 
Scarcely had we arrived inDamascus than about 
a dozen Saracens came round to look at us. 
I wore a broad beaver hat, which is unusual in 
that country ; and one of them gave me a 
blow with a staff, which knocked it off my 
head on the ground. I own that my first 
movement was to lift my fist at him ; but the 
Moucre, throwing himself between us, pushed 
me aside, and very fortunately for me he did 
so, for in an instant we were surrounded by 
thirty or forty persons; and if I had given 
a blow I know not what would have become 
of us. 

I mention this circumstance to show that 
the inhabitants of Damascus are a wicked race, 
and, consequently, care should be taken to 



112 



^tvoid any quarrels with them. It is the same 
in other mohammedan countries. I know by 
experience that you must not joke with them, 
nor at the same time seem afraid, nor appear 
poor, for then they will despise you ; nor rich, 
for they are very avaricious, as all who have 
disembarked at Jaffa know to their cost. 

Damascus may contain, as I have heard, 
one hundred thousand souls. The town is 
rich, commercial, and, after Cairo, is the most 
considerable of all in the possession of the 
sultan. To the north, south and east, is an 
extensive plain : to the west a mountain rises, 
at the foot of which the suburbs are built. 
A river runs through it, which is divided into 
several canals : the town only is inclosed by a 
handsome wall, for the suburbs are larger than 
the town. I have nowhere seen such extensive 
gardens, better fruits, nor greater plenty of 
water. This is said to be so abundant,, 
that there is scarcely a house without a 
fountain* 



113 



The governor is only inferior to the sultan 
in all Syria and Egypt; but as at different 
times some governors have revolted, the sultans 
have taken precautions to restrain them within 
proper bounds. Damascus has a strong castle 
on the side toward the mountain, with wide 
and deep ditches, whereof the sultan appoints 
a captain of his own friends, who never suffers 
the governor to enter it. 

It was, in 1 4*00, destroyed, and reduced 
to ashes by Tamerlane. Vestiges of this 
disaster now remain ; and toward the gate 
of St Paul there is a whole quarter that has 
never been rebuilt. There is a khan in the 
town, appropriated as a deposit and place of 
safety to merchants and their goods. It is 
called Khan Berkot, from its having originally 
been the residence of a person of that name. For 
my part, I believe that Berkot was a Frenchman; 
and what inclines me to this opinion is, that on 
a stone of the house are carved fbwers de luce, 
which appear as ancient as the walls. 

Q 



Hi 

Whatever may have been his origin, he 
was a very gallant man, and to this day enjoys 
a high reputation in that country. Never 
during his lifetime, and while he was in power, 
could the Persians or Tartars gain the smallest 
portion of land in Syria. The moment he 
learnt that one of their armies was advancing, 
he instantly marched to meet it, as far as the 
river, beyond Aleppo, that separates Syria 
from Persia, and which, from a guess of the 
situation, I believe to be the river Jehon which 
falls into the Misses in Turcomania. The 
people of Damascus are persuaded that had 
he lived, Tamerlane would never have carried 
his arms thither. Tamerlane, however, did 
honour to his memory ; for when he took the 
town, and ordered it to be set on fire, he 
commanded the house of Berkot to be spared, 
and appointed a guard to prevent its being 
hurt by the fire, so that it subsists to this day. 

The Christians are hated at Damascus. 
Every evening the merchants are shut up in 
their houses by persons appointed for this 



115 



purpose, and who, on the morrow, come to 
open their gates when it may please them. 

I found there many genoese, Venetian, 
calabrian, florentinc, and french merchants. 
The last were come thither to purchase several 
articles, and particularly spiceries, with the 
intention of taking them to Baruth, and 
embarking them on board the galley expected 
from Narbonne. Among them was Jacques 
Coeur *, who has since acted a great part in 
France, and was master of the wardrobe to 
the king. He told us the galley was then at 
Alexandria, and that probably sir Andrew and 

* Jacques Coeur was an extraordinary character, and 
a striking instance of the ingratitude of monarchs. 

Although of low origin, he raised himself by his 
abilities to high honours, and acquired by his activity 
immense riches. He was one of the most celebrated 
merchants that ever existed ; and had it not been for his 
superior management of the finances, the generals, able as 
they were, of Charles VII. would never have expelled the 
English from France. 

Should time be allowed me, I shall probably publish 
a selection from curious papers, illustrative of his life, and of 
other events that took place in France during the reigns of 
Charles VL Charles VII. and Louis XL — T. J. 



ue 



his three companions would embark on board 
at Baruth. 

I was shewn the place, without the walls 
of Damascus, where St Paul had a vision, was 
struck blind, and thrown from his horse. He 
caused himself to be conducted to Damascus, 
where he was baptised ; but the place of his « 
baptism is now a mosque, 

I saw also the stone from which St George 
mounted his horse when he went to combat 
the dragon. It is two feet square ; and they 
say, that when formerly the Saracens attempted 
to carry it away, in spite of all the strength 
they employed they could not succeed. 

Having seen Damascus, sir Sanson and 
myself returned to Baruth, where we found 
sir Andrew, Pierre de Vaudrei, Geoffroi de 
Toisi and Jean de la Roe, who had come 
thither, as Jacques Cceur had told us. The 
galley arrived from Alexandria two or three 
days afterward ; but, during this short interval, 
we witnessed a feast, celebrated by the Moors 
in their ancient manner. It began in the 



117 



evening at sun-set. Numerous companies, 
scattered here and there, were singing and 
uttering loud cries. While this was passing, 
the cannon of the castle were fired, and the 
people of the town launched into the air, 
6 hien hault et bien loing, une maniere de feu 
plus gros que le plus gros fallot que je veisse 
oncques allume.' They told me, they 
sometimes made use of such at sea, to set fire 
to the sails of an enemy's vessel. It seems to 
me, that as it is a thing easy to be made, and 
of little expense, it may be equally well 
employed to burn a camp or a thatched 
village, or in an engagement with cavalry to 
frighten the horses. 

Curious to know its composition, I sent 
the servant of my host to the person who made 
this fire, and requested him to teach me the 
method. He returned for answer that he 
dared not, for that he should run great danger 
were it known ; but as there is nothing a Moor 
will not do for money, I offered him a ducat, 
which quieted his fears, and he taught me all 



118 

he knew, and even gave me the moulds in 
wood, with the other ingredients, which I have 
brought to France. 

The evening before the embarkation, I 
took sir Andi-e de Toulongeon aside, and, 
having made him promise that he would not 
make any opposition to what I was about to 
reveal to him, I informed him of my design 
to return home overland. In consequence of 
his promise, he did not attempt to hinder me, 
but represented all the dangers I should have 
to encounter, and the risk I should run of being 
forced to deny my faith to Jesus Christ. 
I must own that his representations were 
well founded; and of all the perils he had 
menaced me with, there was not one I did 
not experience, except denying my religion. 
He engaged his companions to talk with me 
also on this subject ; but what they urged 
was vain : I suffered them to set sail, and 
remained at Baruth. 

On their departure, I visited a mosque 
that had originally been a handsome church. 



l\9 



built, as it is said, by St Barbara. It is added, 
that when the Saracens had gained possession, 
and their criers had, as usual, ascended the 
tower to announce the time of prayer, they 
were so beaten that from that day no one has 
ventured to return thither, 

There is also another miraculous building 
that has been changed into a church, which 
formerly was a house belonging to the Jews. 
One day these people finding an image of our 
Lord began to stone it, as their fathers had in 
times past stoned the Original ; but the image 
having shed blood, they were so frightened 
with the miracle, that they fled and accused 
themselves to the bishop, and gave up even 
their house in reparation for their crime. 
A church was made from it, which at present 
is served by the Cordeliers. 

I was lodged at the house of a Venetian 
merchant, named Paul Barberico ; and as I had 
no way entirely renounced my two pilgrimages 
to Nazareth and mount Tabor, in spite of the 



120 



obstacles which it had been said I should meet 
with, I consulted him on this double journey. 
He procured for me a Moucre, who undertook 
to conduct me, and bound himself before him 
to carry me safe and sound as far as Damascus, 
and to bring him back from thence a certificate 
of having performed his engagement, signed 
by me. This man made me dress myself like 
a Saracen. The Franks, for their security in 
travelling, have obtained permission from the 
sultan to wear this dress when on a journey. 

I departed with my Moucre from Baruth 
on the morrow after the galley had sailed, and 
we followed the road to Seyde that lies between 
the sea and the mountains. These frequently 
run so far into the sea that travellers are forced 
to go on the sands, and at other times they are 
three quarters of a league distant. 

After an hour's ride, I came to a small 
wood of lofty pines, which the people of the 
country preserve with care. It is even forbidden 
to cut down any of them ; but I am ignorant 



V2t 

of the reason for such a regulation. Further 
on was a tolerably deep river, which my Moucre 
said came from the valley of Noah, but the water 
was not good to drink. It had a stone bridge 
over it, and hard by was a khan, where we 
passed the night. 

On the morrow, we arrived at Seyde^ 
a town situated near the sea, and inclosed on 
the land side by ditches, which are not deep. 

Sur, called by the Moors 6 Four,' has 
a similar situation „ It is supplied with excellent 
water from a spring a quarter of a league to 
the southward of the town, conducted to it by 
an aqueduct* I only passed through ; and it 
seemed to be handsome, though not strong, 
any more than Seyde, — both having been 
formerly destroyed, as appears from their 
walls, which are not to be compared to those 
of our towns* 

The mountain near Sur forms a crescent* 
the two horns advancing as far as the sea : the 
void between them is not filJed with villages; 

it 



122 

though there are many on the sides of the 
mountain. A league farther, we came to 
a pass which forced us to travel over a bank, 
on the summit of which is a tower. Travellers 
going to Acre have no other road than this, 
and the tower has been erected for their 
security. 

From this defile to x\cre, the mountains 
are low, and many habitations are visible, 
inhabited, for the greater part, by Arabs, 
Near the town, I met a great lord of the 
country, called Fancardin : he was encamped 
on the open plain, carrying his tents with him. 

Acre, though in a plain of about four 
leagues in extent, is surrounded on three sides 
by mountains, and on the fourth by the sea. 
I made acquaintance there with a Venetian 
merchant called Aubert Franc, who received 
me well, and procured me much useful 
information respecting my two pilgrimages, 
by which I profited. With the aid of his 
advice, I took the road to Nazareth, and 7 



123 



having crossed an extensive plain, came to the 
fountain, the water of which our Lord changed 
into wine at the marriage of Archetreclin* : it 
is near a village where St Peter is said to have 
been born. 

Nazareth is another large village, built 
between two mountains ; but the place where 
the angel Gabriel came to announce to the 
virgin Mary, that she would be a mother, is 
in a .pitiful state. The church that had been 
there built is entirely destroyed ; and of the 
house wherein our lady was when the angel 
appeared to her, not the smallest remnant 
exists. 

From Nazareth I went to Mount Tabor, 
the place where the transfiguration of our Lord, 

* Architriclinus is a latin word, formed from the 
Greek, which the evangelist applies to signify the master of 
the house, or major domo, who presided at the marriage of 
Cana. Our ignorant authors of the lower ages took it for 
the name of a man, and made a saint of him, whom 
they called Saint Archetreclin. In la Brocquiere's account, 
Archetreclin is the bridegroom at Cana, 



$2$ 

and many other miracles, took effect. These 
pasturages attract the Arabs who come thither 
with their beasts ; and 1 was forced to engage 
four additional men as an escort, two of whom 
were Arabs. The ascent of the mountain is 
rugged, because there is no road : I performed 
it on the back of a mule, but it took me two 
hours. The summit is terminated by an 
almost circular plain of about two bow-shots 
in length, and one in width. It was formerly 
inclosed with walk, the ruins of which, and 
the ditches, are still visible : within the wall, 
and around it, were several churches, and one 
especially, where, although in ruins, full 
pardon for vice and sin is gained. 

To the east of Mount Tabor, and at the 
foot of it, we saw the Tiberiade beyond 
which the Jordan flows : to the westward is an 
extensive plain, very agreeable from its gardens, 
filled with date palm trees, and small tufts of 
trees planted like vines, on which grows the 
cotton. At sun-rise, these last have a singular 



125 



effect, and, seeing their green leaves covered 
with cotton, the traveller would suppose it had 
snowed on them *; 

I descended into this plain to dinner, for 
I had brought with me chickens and wine. 
My guides conducted me to the house of a 
man, who, when he saw my wine, took me for 
a person of consequence, and received me well. 
He brought me a porringer of milk, another 
of honey, and a branch loaded with dates. 
They were the first I had ever seen. I noticed 
also the manner of manufacturing cotton, in 
which men and women were employed. Here 
my guides wanted to extort more money from 
me, and insisted on making a fresh bargain to 
reconduct me to Nazareth. I had not my 
sword with me, for I confess I should have 
drawn it; and it would have been madness 

* M. de la Brocquiere is here probably mistaken. 
The cotton tree resembles in its leaves the vine ; but the cotton 
is formed in capsules, and not on the leaves. There are many 
trees, whose leaves are covered externally with a white down, 
but none that in this manner produce cotton* 



126 

in me, and in all who shall imitate mc. 
The result of the quarrel was, that I was 
obliged to give them twelve drachms of their 
money, equivalent to half a ducat. The 
moment they had received them, the whole 
four left me, so that I was obliged to return 
alone with my Moucre. 

We had not proceeded far on our road 
when we saw two Arabs, armed in their 
manner, and mounted on beautiful horses, 
come toward us. The Moucre was much 
frightened ; but, fortunately, they passed us 
without saying a word. He owned, that had 
they suspected I was a Christian, they would 
have unmercifully killed us both, or, at the 
least, have stripped us naked. 

Each of them bore a long and thin pole, 
shod at the ends with iron ; one of which was 
pointed, the other round, but having many 
sharp blades a span long. Their buckler was 
round, according to their custom, convex at 
the centre, whence came a thick point of iron ; 



127 



and from that point, to the bottom, it was 
ornamented with a long silken fringe. They 
were dressed in robes, whose sleeves, a foot and 
a half wide, hung down their arms; and, 
instead of a cap, they had a round hat, 
terminated in a point of rough crimson wool, 
which, instead of having the linen cloth twisted 
about it like other Moors, fell down, on each 
side of it, the whole of its breadth. 

We went to lodge at Samaria, because I 
wished to see the lake of Tiberias, where, it is 
said, St Peter was accustomed to fish ; and by so 
doing some pardons may be gained, for it was 
the ember-week of September. The Moucre 
left me to myself the whole day. Samaria is 
situated on the extremity of a mountain. We 
entered it at the close of day, and left it 
at midnight to visit the lake. The Moucre 
had proposed this hour to evade the tribute 
exacted from all who go thither; but the night 
hindered me from seeing the surrounding 
country. 



i2S 



I went first to Joseph's well, so called 
from his being cast into it by his brethren. 
There is a handsome mosque near it, which I 
entered, with my Moucre, pretending to be a 
Saracen. 

Further on is a stone bridge over the 
Jordan, called Jacob's Bridge on account of 
a house hard by, said to have been the 
residence of that patriarch. The river flows 
from a great lake situated at the foot of 
a mountain to the north-west, on which 
Namcardin has a very handsome castle. 

From the lake, I took the road to 
Damascus. The country is tolerably pleasant ; 
andalthough the road leadsbetween mountains, 
they are generally from one to two leagues 
asunder. There is, however, one narrow 
place, where the road is only wide enough for 
a horse to pass. The tract all around it, to 
the right and left, for the space of about a 
league in length and breadth, is covered with 
immense flint stones, like pebbles in a river. 



129 



the greater part as big a£ a wine-tun. 
Beyond this pass is a handsome khan, 
surrounded by fountains and rivulets. Four 
or five miles from Damascus is another, the 
most magnificent I ever saw, seated near a 
small river, formed by a junction of springs 
rising on the spot. The nearer you approach 
the town, the finer is the country. 

I met, near Damascus, a very black 
Moor, who had rode a camel from Cairo in 
eight days, though it is usually sixteen days 
journey. His camel had run away from him ; 
but, with the assistance of my Moucre, we 
recovered it. These couriers have a singular 
saddle, on which they sit cross-legged ; but 
the rapidity of the camel is so great, that 
to prevent any bad effects from the air, they 
have their heads and bodies tightly bandaged. 

This courier was the bearer of an order 
from the sultan. A galley and two galliots, 
of the prince of Tarentum, had captured, 
before Tripoli in Syria, a vessel from the 

s 



130 



Moors; and the sultan, byway of reprisal, had 
sent to arrest all the Catalonians and Genoese 
who might be found in Damascus and 
throughout Syria. This news, which my 
Moucre told me, did not alarm me : I entered 
boldly the town with other Saracens, because, 
dressed like them, I thought I had nothing 
to fear. This expedition had taken up seven 
days. 

On the morrow of my arrival, I saw the 
caravan return from Mecca. It was said to 
be composed of three thousand camels, and, 
in fact, it was two days and as many nights 
before they had all entered the town. This 
event was, according to custom, a great festival. 
The governor of Damascus, attended by the 
principal persons of the town, went to meet 
the caravan, out of respect to the Alcoran, 
which it bore. This is the book of law 
Mohammed left to his followers. It was 
enveloped in a silken covering, painted over 
with moorish inscriptions ; and the camei 



131 



that bore it was, in like manner, decorated 
all over with silk. 

Four musicians, and a great number of 
drums and trumpets preceded this camel, and 
made a loud noise. In front, and around, were 
about thirty men, — some bearing cross-bows, 
others drawn swords, others small harquebuses, 
which they fired off every now and then *. 
Behind the camel followed eight old men, 
mounted on the swiftest camels, and near them 
were led their horses magnificently caparisoned 
and ornamented with rich saddles, according 
to the custom of the country. After them 
came a turkish lady, a relation of the grand 
seignior, in a litter borne by two camels with 
rich housings. There were many of these 
animals covered with cloth of gold. 

The caravan was composed of Moors, 
Turks, Barbaresques, Tartars, Persians, and 

* The author does not mention what sort of harquebuses 
these were ; but it is remarkable, that our portable fire-arms, 
the invention of which is very recent in Europe, were, at that 
feme, in use among the Mohammedans of Asia, 



132 



other sectaries of the false prophet Mohammed, 
These people pretend, that having once made 
a pilgrimage to Mecca, they cannot be damned. 
Of this I was assured by a renegado slave, a 
Bulgarian by birth, who belonged to the lady 
I have mentioned. He was called Hayauldoula, 
which signifies, in the turki^h language, ' servant 
of God,' and pretended to have been three times; 
at Mecca. I formed an acquaintance with 
him, because he spoke a little Italian, and 
often kept me company in the night as well as 
in the day. 

In our conversations, I frequently questioned 
him about Mohammed, and where his body was 
interred. He told me it was at Mecca ; that 
the shrine containing the body was in a circular 
chapel, open at the top, and that it was through 
this opening the pilgrims saw the shrine; that 
among them were some, who, having seen it, 
had their eyes thrust out, because they said, 
after what they had just seen, the world could 
no longer offer them any thing worth looking 



133 



at. There were in fact, in this caravan, two 
persons, the one of sixteen and the other of 
twenty-two or twenty-three years old, who had 
thus made themselves blind. 

Hayauldoula told me also, that it was not 
at Mecca where pardons for sin were granted, 
but at Medina, where St Abraham built a 
house that still remains *. The building is in 
the form of a cloister, of which pilgrims make 
the circuit. 

With regard to the town, it is seated on 
the sea-shore, Indians, the inhabitants of 
Prester John's country, bring thither, in large 
ships, spices, and other productions of their 
country ; and thither the Mohammedans go 
to purchase them. They load them on 
camels, and other beasts of burden, for the 
markets of Cairo, Damascus, and other places, 

* Our traveller is mistaken. The tomb of Mohammed 
is at tyledina and not at Mecca ; and the house of Abraham 
is at Mecca, and not Medina, where pilgrims gain pardons, 
and where that great commerce is carried on. 



134 



as is well known. The distance from Mecca 
to Damascus is forty days journey across the 
desert. The heat is excessive ; and many of 
the caravan were suffocated. 

According to the renegado slave, the 
annual caravan to Medina should be composed 
of seven hundred thousand persons; and when 
this number is incomplete, God sends his 
angels to make it up. At the great day of 
judgment, Mohammed will admit into paradise 
as many persons as he shall please, where 
they will enjoy honey, milk, and women at 
pleasure. 

As I was incessantly hearing Mohammed 
spoken of, I wished to know something about 
him; and, for this purpose, I addressed myself 
to a priest in Damascus, attached to the 
Venetian consul, who often said mass in his 
house, confessed the merchants of that nation, 
and, when necessary, regulated their affairs. 
Having confessed myself to him, and settled 
my worldly concerns, I asked him if he were 



135 



acquainted with the doctrines of Mohammed. 
Hesaid he was, and knewall the Alcoran. I then 
besought him, in the best manner I could, that 
he would put down in writing all he knew of 
him, that I might present it to my lord the 
duke of Burgundy. He did so with pleasure; 
and 1 have brought with me his work. 

My intention was to go to Bursa ; and, 
in consequence, I was introduced to a Moor, 
who engaged to conduct me thither in the 
track of the caravan, on paying him thirty 
ducats and his expenses ; but as I was advised 
to distrust the Moors, as people of bad faith, 
and subject to break their promises, I did not 
conclude the bargain. I say this for the 
instruction of those who may have any concerns 
with them, for I believe them to be such as 
they were described to me. Hayauldoula, on 
his part, procured me the acquaintance of 
some caramanian merchants, but I took 
another resolution. 



136' 



In regard to the pilgrims that go to 
Mecca, the grand Turk has a custom peculiar 
to himself; at least, I am ignorant if the other 
mohammedan powers do the same ; which is, 
that when the caravan leaves his states, he 
chooses for it a chief, whom they are bound 
to obey as implicitly as himself. The chief of 
this caravan was called Hoyarbarach : he was 
a native of Bursa, and one of its principal 
inhabitants. I caused myself to be presented 
to him by mine host and another person, as a 
man that wanted to go to that town to see 
a brother : they entreated him to receive me 
in his company, and to afford me his security* 
He asked if I understood Arabic, Turkish, 
Hebrew, the vulgar tongue, or Greek ? When 
they replied that I did not, he answered, 6 Wel! ? 
what can he pretend to do ?' 

However, representations were made to 
him, that on account of the war I dared not 
go thither by sea, and that if he would 



137 



condescend to admit me I would do as well 
as I couid. He then consented ; and, having 
placed his two hands on his head and touched 
his beard, he told me in the turkish language, 
that I might join his slaves ; but he insisted 
that I should be dressed just like them. 

I went immediately after this interview, 
with one of my friends, to the market, called the 
Bazar, and bought two long white robes that 
reached to my ancles, a complete turban, a linen 
girdle, a fustian pair of drawers to tuck the 
ends of my robe in, — two small bags, the one 
for my own use, the other to hang on my 
horse's head while feeding him with barley 
and straw,— a leathern spoon and salt, a carpet 
to sleep on, — and lastly a paletot (a sort of 
doublet) of a white skin, which I lined with 
linen cloth, and which was of service to me 
in the nights. I purchased also a white tarquais 
(a sort of quiver) complete, to which hung a 
sword and knives ; but as to the tarquais and 
sword, I could only buy them privately, — for 

T 



138 

if those who have the administration of justice 
had known of it, the seller and myself would 
have run great risks. 

The damascus blades are the handsomest 
and best of all Svria ; and it is curious to 
observe their manner of burnishing them. 
This operation is performed before tempering; 
and they have, for this purpose, a small piece 
of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they 
rub up and down the blade, and thus clear off 
all inequalities, as a plane does to wood : they 
then temper and polish it. This polish is so 
highly finished, that when any one wants to 
arrange his turban, he uses his sword for a 
looking-glass. As to its temper, it is perfect^ 
and I have nowhere seen swords that cut so 
excellently. 

There are made at Damascus, and in 
the adjoining country, mirrors of steel, that 
magnify objects like burning glasses. I have 
seen some that, when exposed to the sun, have 
reflected the heat so strongly as to set fire to a 
plank fifteen or sixteen feet distant. 



139 



I bought a small horse that turned out 
very well. Before my departure, I had him 
shod at Damascus ; and thence, as far as Bursa, 
which is near fifty days journey, I had nothing 
to do with his feet, excepting one of the fore 
ones which was pricked by a nail, and made 
him lame for three weeks, so well do they 
shoe their horses. The shoes are light, thin, 
lengthened towards the heel, and thinner 
there than at the toe. They are not turned 
up, and have but four nail holes, two on each 
side. The nails are square, with a thick and 
heavy head. When a shoe is wanted, and it is 
necessary to work it to make it fit the hoof, it 
is done cold without ever putting it in the fire, 
which can readily be done because it is so thin. 
To pare the hoof, they use a pruning knife, 
similar to what vine- dressers trim their vines 
with, both in this as well as on the other side 
of the sea. 

The horses of this country only walk and 
gallop ; and, when purchased, those who have 



HO 

the best walk are preferred, as in Europe those 
who trot the best. They have wide nostrils, 
gallop well, and are excellent, costing little on 
the road; for they eat only at night, and then 
but a small quantity of barley with chopped 
straw. They never drink but in the afternoon ; 
and their bridles are always left in their mouths, 
even when in the stable, like mules : when there, 
they have the two hinder legs tied, and they 
are intermixed all together, horses and mares. 
All are geldings, excepting a few kept for 
stallions. Should you have any business with 
a rich man, and call on him, he will carry 
you, to speak with you, to his stables, which 
are, consequently, kept always very cool, and 
very clean. 

We, Europeans, prefer a stone-horse of a 
good breed, but the Moors esteem only mares. 
In that country, a great man is not ashamed 
to ride a mare, with its foal running after the 
dam. I have seen some exceedingly beautiful, 
sold as high as two or three hundred ducats, 



141 



They are accustomed to keep their horses 
very low, and never to allow them to get fat. 
The men of fortune carry with them, when 
they ride, a small drum, which they use in 
battle, or in skirmishes, to rally their men : it 
is fastened to the pummel of their saddles, 
and they beat on it with a piece of flat 
leather. I also purchased one, with spurs, and 
vermilion-coloured boots, which came up to 
my knees, according to the custom of the 
country. 

As a mark of my gratitude toHoyarbarach, 
I went to offer him a pot of green ginger, but 
he refused it ; and it was by dint of prayers 
and entreaties that I prevailed on him to accept 
of it. I had not any other pledge for my 
security than what 1 have mentioned ; but I 
found him full of frankness and good will, 
more, perhaps, than I should have found in 
many Christians. 

God, who had protected me in the 
accomplishment of tjbis journey, brought me 



142 

acquainted with a Jew of Caffa, who spoke 
the tartar and italian languages ; and I requested 
him to assist me in putting down in writing the 
names of every thing I might have occasion to 
want for myself and my horse, while on the 
road. On our arrival, the first day's journey, 
at Bailee, I drew out my paper to know how 
to ask for barley and chopped straw, which 
I wanted to give my horse. Ten or twelve 
Turks near me, observing my action, burst 
into laughter, and, coming nearer to examine 
my paper, seemed as much surprised at our 
writing as we are with theirs. They took a 
liking to me, and made every effort to teach 
me to speak Turkish : they were never weary 
of making me often repeat the same thing, 
and pronounced it so many different ways 
that I could not fail to retain it ; so, when we 
separated, I knew how to call for every thing 
necessary for myself and horse. 

During the stay of the caravan at 
Damascus, I made a pilgrimage about sixteen 



143 



miles distant, to our lady of Serdenay. To 
arrive there, we traversed a mountain a full 
quarter of a mile in length, to which the 
gardens of Damascus extend. We then 
descended into a delightful valley, full of 
vineyards and gardens, with a handsome 
fountain of excellent water. Here, on a rock, 
has been erected a small castle, with a church 
of greek monks, having a portrait of the virgin 
painted on wood, whose head has been carried 
thither miraculously, but in what manner I am 
ignorant. 

It is added, that it always sweats, and that 
this sweat is an oil *. All I can say is, that 

* Many authors of the 1 3th century mention this virgin 
of Serdenay, that was famous during the croisades ; and they 
speak of this oily sweat, that had the reputation of doing 
miracles. These fabulous accounts of miraculous sweatings 
were common in Asia. Among others, that which exuded 
from the tomb of the bishop Nicholas, one of those 
saints whose existence is more than doubtful, was much 
vaunted. This pretended liquor of Nicholas was even an 
object of adoration ; and we read, that in 1 65 1 , a clergyman at 
Paris, having received a phial of it 3 demanded and obtained 



144 

when I went thither I was shewn at the end of 
the church, behind the great altar, a niche 
formed in the wall, where I saw the image, 
which teas a flat thing, and might be about one 
foot and a half high by one foot wide. I cannot 
say whether it is of wood or stone, for it was 
entirely covered with clothes. The front was 
closed with an iron trellis, and underneath 
was the vase containing the oil. A woman 
accosted me, and with a silver spoon moved 
aside the clothes, and wanted to anoint me 
with the sign of the cross on the forehead, the 
temples and breast. I believe this was a mere 
trick to get money : nevertheless, I do not 
mean to say that our lady may not have more 
power than this image. 

I returned to Damascus, and on the 
evening of the departure of the caravan 
settled my affairs, and my conscience, as if 

permission from the archbishop to expose it to the veneration 
of the faithful. — Hist, de Paris, &c. from Le Boeuf, t. 1. 
part 2. p. 557. 



115 



I had been at the point of death; but suddenly 
I found myself in great trouble. I have before 
mentioned the messenger whom the sultan 
had sent with orders to arrest all the genoese 
and catalonian merchants found within his 
dominions. By virtue of this order, my host, 
who was a Genoese, was arrested, his effects 
seized, and a Moor placed in his house to take 
care of them. I endeavoured to save all I 
could for him ; and that the Moor might not 
notice it, I made him drunk, i was arrested 
in my turn, and carried before one of their 
cadies, who are considered as somewhat like 
our bishops, and have the office of administering 
justice. This cadi turned me over to another 
cadi, who sent me to prison with the merchants, 
although he knew I was not one; but this 
disagreeable affair had been brought on me by 
an interpreter who wanted to extort money 
from me, as he had before attempted on my 
first journey hither. Had it not been for 
Antoine Mourrouzin, the Venetian consul, I 



146 

hiust have paid a sum of money ; but I 
remained in prison, and, in the mean time, the 
caravan set off. 

The consul, to obtain my liberty, was 
forced to make intercession, conjointly with 
others, to the governor of Damascus, alledging 
that I had been arrested without cause, which 
the interpreter well knew. The governor sent 
for a Genoese, named Gentil Imperial, a 
merchant employed by the sultan to purchase 
slaves for him at CafFa. He asked me who I 
was, and my business at Damascus. On my 
replying that I was a Frenchman returning 
from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he said they 
had done wrong to detain me, and that I 
might depart when I pleased, 

I set off on the morrow of the sixth of 
October, accompanied by a Moucre, whom I 
had first charged to carry my turkish dress out 
of the town, because a Christian is not 
-permitted to wear a white turban there. At a 
short distance, a mountain rises, on which I 



147 



was shewn a house, said to have been that of 
Cain. During the first day we travelled over 
mountains, but the road was good. On the 
second day we entered a fine country, which 
continued cheerful until we came to Balbeck. 

My Moucre there quitted me, as I had 
overtaken the caravan. It was encamped 
near a river, on account of the great heat in 
these parts: the nights are nevertheless very 
cold, which will scarcely be believed, and 
the dews exceedingly heavy. I waited on 
Hoyarbarach, who confirmed the permission 
he had granted me to accompany him, and 
recommended it to me not to quit the 
caravan. 

On the morrow morning, at eleven 
o'clock, I gave my horse water, with oats 
and straw, according to the custom of our 
countries. This time the Turks said nothing 
to me ; but at six o'clock in the evening, 
when, having given him water, I was about 
fastening the bag, that he might eat, they 



148 



opposed it, and took off the bag; for they 
never suffer their horses to eat but during the 
night, and will not allow one to begin eating 
before the rest, unless when they are at grass. 

The captain of the caravan had with 
him a mameluke of the sultan, who was a 
Circassian, and going to Caramania in search 
of a brother. This man seeing me alone, 
and ignorant of the language of the country, 
charitably wished to serve me as a companion, 
and took me with him ; but, as he had no tent, 
we were often obliged to pass the nights under 
trees in gardens. 

It was then that I was obliged to learn to 
sleep on the ground, to drink nothing but water, 
and to sit cross-legged. This posture was at 
first painful, but it was still more so to 
accustom myself to sit my horse with such very 
short stirrups, — and I suffered so much, that 
when I had dismounted, I could not remount 
without assistance, so sore were my hams; but 



149 



after a little time, this manner seemed even 
more convenient than ours. 

That same evening I supped with the 
mameluke; but we had only bread, cheese 
and milk. I had, when eating, a table-cloth, 
like the rich men of the country. These cloths 
are four feet in diameter, and round, having 
strings attached to them, so that they may be 
drawn up like a purse. When they are used, 
they are spread out; and when the meal is over, 
they are drawn up with all that remains within 
them, without their losing a crumb of bread or 
a raisin. But I observed, that whether their 
repast had been good or bad, they never failed 
to return thanks aloud to God. 

Balbeck is a good town, well inclosed 
with walls, and tolerably commercial. In the 
center is a castle, built with very large stones. 
At present it contains a mosque, in which, it 
is said, there is a human skull, with eyes so 
enormous that a man may pass his head 
through their openings. I cannot affifm this 



150 

for fact, as none but Saracens may enter the 
mosque. 

From Balbeck we went to Hamos, and 
encamped on the banks of a river. It was 
there I observed their manner of encamping 
and pitching their tents. The tents are neither 
very high nor very large, so that one man can 
pitch them, and six persons may with ease 
repose in them during the heat. In the course 
of the day they lay open the lower parts, to 
give passage to the air, and close them in the 
night time. One camel can carry seven or 
eight with thin poles : some of them are very 
handsome. 

As my companion, the Mameluke, and 
myself, had no tent, we fixed our quarters in a 
garden. There we were joined by two 
Turcomans of Satalia, returning from Mecca, 
who supped with us. These men, seeing 
me well clothed and well mounted, having a 
handsome sword, and well furnished tarquais, 
proposed to the Mameluke, as he afterwards 



151 



owned when we separated, to make away with 
me, considering that I was but a Christian, 
and unworthy of being in their company. He 
answered, that since I had eaten bread and salt 
with them, it would be a great crime ; that it 
was forbidden by their law; and that, after all, 
God had created the Christians as well as the 
Saracens. 

They, however, persisted in their design ; 
and as I testified a desire of seeing Aleppo, 
the most considerable town in Syria after 
Damascus, they pressed me to join them. 
I was ignorant of their intention, and accepted 
their offer; but I am now convinced they only 
wanted to cut my throat. The Mameluke 
forbade them to come any more near us, and 
by this means saved my life. 

We set out from Balbeck two hours 
before day; and our caravan consisted of from 
four to five hundred persons, with six or seven 
hundred camels and mules ; for it had great 



152 



quantities of spicery. I will describe the order 
of its march. 

The caravan has a very large drum ; and 
the moment the chief orders the departure, 
three loud strokes are beaten. Every one then 
makes himself ready, and, when prepared, 
joins the file without uttering a word. Ten 
of our people would, in such cases, make more 
noise than a thousand of theirs. Thus they 
march in silence, unless it be at night, or that 
any one should sing a song celebrating the 
heroic deeds of their ancestors. At the break 
of day, two or three placed at a great distance 
from each other cry out, and answer one 
another, as is done from the towers of the 
mosques at the usual hours. In short, a little 
before and after run-rise, devout people make 
their customary prayers and oblations. 

To perform these oblations, if they be near 
a rivulet, they dismount, and, with feet naked, 
they wash their whole bodies. Should there 



153 

be no rivulet near, at the ukual time for these 
ceremonies, they pass their hands over their 
bodies. The last among them washes his 
mouth and the opposite part, and then turns 
to the south, when all raise two fingers in the 
air, prostrate themselves, and kiss the ground 
thrice: they then rise up and say their prayers. 
They have been ordered to practise these 
ablutions instead of confessions. Persons of 
rank, to avoid failing in their performance, 
always carry, when they travel, leathern bottles 
full of water, which are suspended under the 
bellies of camels or horses, and are generally 
very handsome. 

Hamos (Hems) is a good town, well 
inclosed with walls and ditches 8 cn glacis/ 
situated in a plain on the banks of a small 
river. Here terminates one end of the plain 
of Noah, which is said to extend as far as 
Persia. Tamerlane made his irruption through 
this plain when he took and destroyed so many 
cities. At the extremity of the town is a 

x 



154 



handsome castle, constructed on a height, with 
glacis as far as the walls. 

From Hems, we went to Hama. The 
country is fine ; but I saw few inhabitants 
excepting Arabs, who were rebuilding some 
of the ruined villages. I met with a merchant 
from Venice in Hama, named Laurent Souranze. 
He received me well, lodged me in his house, 
and shewed me the town and castle. It has 
good towers, with strong and thick walls, built, 
like the castle of Provins, on a rock, in which 
deep ditches have been cut. At one end of 
the town is the castle, strongly and well built 
on an elevation, which is fortified by ditches, 
and surmounted by a citadel which commands 
the whole ; and the sides are washed by a river, 
said to be one of the four that flowed out of 
paradise. I know not if this be fact or not : 
all that I know is, that it runs east-south-east, 
and loses itself near Antioch. 

Here is the greatest wheel I ever saw. 
It is put in motion by the river, and supplies 



155 



the inhabitants, although numerous, with the 
necessary quantity of water. The water falls 
into a trough cut in the castle-rock, and thence 
is conducted to the town, where it flows through 
the streets in an aqueduct formed on great 
square pillars twelve feet high, and two wide* 
I was in want of several things to be like my 
fellow-travellers, of which the Mameluke 
having informed me, my host Laurent carried 
me himself to the bazar to purchase. The 
things wanted were small silken bonnets, in 
the fashion of the Turcomans, a cap to wear 
under them, turkish spoons, knives with their 
steel, a comb and case, and a leathern cup, — ■ 
all of which are suspended to the sword. 
I likewise bought some finger-stalls to draw 
the bow, another tarquais complete — to save 
the one I had, which was very handsome — and 
lastly a capinat, which is a robe of fine white 
felt, impenetrable to the rain. 

On the road I made acquaintance with 
some of my fellow-travellers, who, when they 



156 



found out that I lodged with a Frank, came 
to ask me to procure them some wine. This 
liquor is forbidden them by their religion 5 and 
.they dare not drink it before their own 
countrymen ; but they hoped to do it without 
risk at the house of a Frank, and yet they were 
returning from Mecca ! I spoke of it to my 
host Laurent, but he said he was afraid to 
comply, from the great dangers he should run 
were it known. I went to carry them this 
answer; but they had been more fortunate 
elsewhere, in procuring some at the house of 
a Greek. They proposed that I should 
accompany them to partake, whether from 
pure friendship, or to authorise them to 
drink wine in the presence of the Greek, 
This man conducted us to a small gallery 
where we all six seated ourselves in a circle on 
the floor. He first placed in the midst of us a 
large and handsome earthen jug, that might 
contain four gallons at least: he then brought 
for each of us a pot full of wine, which he 



157 



poured into the jug, and placed beside it two 
earthen porringers to serve for glasses. 

The first who began, drank to his 
companion, according to their custom ; this 
did the same to the next, and so on the others. 
We drank in this manner for a long time 
without eating ; at length, I perceived that I 
could no longer continue it without suffering, 
and begged of them, with uplifted hands, to 
permit me to leave off; but they grew very 
angry, and complained as if I had been resolved 
to interrupt their pleasure and do them an 
injury. Fortunately there was one among 
them more acquainted with me than the rest, 
and who loved me so that he called me 
* Kardays,' that is to say, Brother. He 
offered to take my place, and to drink for me 
when it should be my turn. This appeased 
them, and, having accepted the offer, the party 
continued until evening, when it was necessary 
for us to return to the khan. 



The captain of the caravan was, at the 
moment, seated on a bench of stone, and had 
before him a lighted torch It was not difficult 
for him to guess whence we came, and, 
consequently, four of our companions slipped 
away, and one only remained with me. 
I mention all this, to forewarn any persons 
that may travel through these countries, to 
avoid drinking with the natives, unless they 
shall wish to swallow so much as will make 
them fall to the ground. 

The Mameluke, who was ignorant of my 
debauch, had, during that time, bought a 
goose for us both. He had just boiled it ; 
and, for want of verjuice, had dressed it 
with the green leaves of the leek : I eat of it 
with him, and it lasted us for three days. 

I should have liked to have seen Aleppo ; 
but the caravan taking the strait road to 
Antioch, I was rorced to give up all thoughts 
of it. As the caravan was not to set out for 



159 



two days, the Mameluke proposed that wer 
should ride forward, the more easily to procure 
lodgings. Four turkish merchants desired to 
be of our party, and we six travelled together. 

Half a league from Hama, we came to 
the river, and crossed it by a bridge. It had 
overflowed, although there had not been any 
rain. Here I wished to give my horse some 
water; but as the bank was steep, and the river 
deep, had not the Mameluke come to my aid, 
I must inevitably have been drowned. 

On the opposite side of the river is a long 
and vast plain, where we met six or eight 
Turcomans, accompanied by a woman. She 
wore a tarquais like them ; and, on enquiring 
into this, I was told that the women of this 
nation are brave, and in time of war fight like 
men. It was added, and this seemed to me 
very extraordinary, that there are about thirty 
thousand women who thus bear the tarquais, 
.and are under the dominion of a lord, 



160 



named Turcgadiroly, who resides among the 
mountains of Armenia, on the frontiers of 
Persia. 

The second day's journey was through a 
mountainous country, tolerably fertile, though 
ill watered ; but we saw nothing but ruined 
houses. As we travelled, my Mameluke 
taught me to shoot with the bow, and made 
me buy finger-stalls and rings for this purpose. 
At length we arrived at a village that was 
rich in woods, vineyards and corn fields, but 
having no other water than what was in 
cisterns. 

This district seemed to have been formerly 
inhabited by Christians; and I own it gave me 
great pleasure when I was told, that it had all 
belonged to Franks, and the ruins of churches 
were shewn me as a proof of it. 

We fixed our quarters in this village; and 
it was then I first saw the habitations of the 
Turcomans, and women of that nation with 



161 

uncovered faces* They commonly hide them 
under a piece of black tammy, to which 
those who are wealthy attach pieces of money 
and precious stones. The men are good 
archers. I saw several draw the bow, which 
they do sitting, and at a short distance ; and 
this gives to their arrows great rapidity and 
strength* 

On leaving Syria, we entered Turcomania, 
called by us Armenia. The capital is a very 
considerable town, named Antequaye by them, 
and by us Antioch. It was very flourishing 
in former times, and has still handsome walls 
in good repair, which inclose a large tract of 
ground, and even some mountains ; but it? 
houses are not more than three hundred in 
number. It is bounded on the south by a 
mountain, on the north by a great lake, 
beyond which is an open and fine country. 
The river that comes from Hama runs 
alongside the walls. Almost all the inhabitants 
are Turcomans or Arabs; and their profession 



164 

is breeding cattle, such as camels, goats, cows 
and sheep. 

The goats are, for the most part, white, 
and the handsomest 1 have ever seen, not 
having, like those of Syria, hanging ears ; and 
their hair is soft, of some length, and curling. 
Their sheep have thick and broad tails. They 
also feed wild asses, which they tame : these 
much resemble stags in their hair, ears and 
head, and have, like them, cloven feet. I know 
not if they have the same cry, for I never heard 
them. They are large, handsome, and go 
with other beasts ; but I have never seen them 
mounted *. 

For the carriage of merchandise they use 
the buffalo and ox, as we do the horse. They 
also use them to ride on ; and I have seen 
large herds, some carrying goods and others 
men. 

* This animal cannot be an ass, for it has a cloven 
foot, which the ass has not. It may probably be a sort of 
antilope, or rather a buffalo. 



165 



The lord of this country was Ramedang, 
a rich, powerful and brave prince. For some 
time he was so redoubtable that the sultan was 
alarmed, and afraid to anger him ; but, wishing 
to destroy him, he practised with the karman, 
who could more easily deceive Ramedang 
than any other, having given him his sister in 
marriage. In consequence, one day, as they 
were eating together, the karman arrested him 
and delivered him to the sultan, who put him 
to death, and took possession of Turcomania, 
giving, however, a portion of it to the karman. 
On leaving Antioch, I continued my road with 
the Mameluke, and we first crossed a mountain 
called Negre, on which he pointed out to me 
three or four handsome castles in ruins, that 
had belonged to the Christians. The road is 
good, and incessantly perfumed by the number 
of laurels with which the country abounds; 
but the descent is twice as rapid as the ascent. 
It finishes at the gulph of Asacs, which we 
call Layaste, because, in fact, it takes its name 



164 

from the town of Ayas. This gulf extends 
itself between two mountains inland for upward 
of fifteen miles : its breadth may be about 
twelve, but I refer for this to the sea charts. 

At the foot of the mountain, near the 
road, and close to the sea-shore, are the ruins 
of a strong castle, defended on the landside by 
a marsh, so that it could only be approached 
by sea, or by a narrow causeway across the 
marsh. It was inhabited, but the Turcomans 
had posted themselves hard by. They occupied 
one hundred and twenty tents, some of felt, 
others of white and blue cotton, all very 
handsome, and capable of containing, with 
ease, from fifteen to sixteen persons. These 
are their houses, and, as we do in ours, they 
perform in them all their household business 
except making fires. 

We halted among them : they placed 
before us one of the table-cloths before 
mentioned, in which there remained fragments 
of bread, cheese and grapes. They then 



165 



brought us a dozen of thin cakes of bread, 
with a large jug of curdled milk, called by 
them Yogort The cakes are a foot broad, 
round, and thinner than wafers: they fold 
them up as grocers do their papers for spices, 
and eat them filled with the curdled milk. 

A league further is a karavansera, where 
we lodged. These establishments consist of 
houses like the khans in Syria. 

In the course of this day's journey, 
I overtook on the road an Armenian, who 
spoke a little Italian. Finding I was a 
Christian, he entered into conversation with 
me, and told me many things of the country, 
its inhabitants, and likewise of the sultan, 
and Ramedang, lord of Turcomania, whom 
I have already mentioned. He said, that 
this last was of a large size, very brave, 
and the most expert of all the Turks in 
handling a battle-axe and sword. His mother 
was a Christian, and had caused him to be 
baptised according to the greek ritual, to take 



166 



from him the smell and odour of those who 
are not baptised *. But he was neither a good 
Christian nor a good Saracen; and when they 
spoke to him of the two prophets, Jesus and 
Mohammed, he said, 4 For my part, I am for 
the living prophets: they will be more useful 
to me than dead ones.' 

His territories on one side joined those of 
the karman, whose sister he had married, and 
on the other Syria, which belonged to the 
sultan. Every time the subjects of the latter 
passed through his country, he exacted tolls 
from them. But at length the sultan prevailed 
on the karman, as I have before noticed, to 
betray his brother-in-law to him ; and at this 
moment he possesses all Turcomania as far as 
Tharsus, and even one day's journey further. — . 
That day, accompanied by the Armenian, we 

* The Christians of Asia were perfectly persuaded that 
the infidels had a disagreeable smell that was peculiar to them, 
apd which baptism took away. This superstition will be 
again noticed. The baptism was, according to the greek 
rkual, by immersion. 



167 



once more lodged with the Turcomans, who 
again served us with milk. It was here I saw 
women make those thin cakes I spoke of. 
This is their manner of making them : they 
have a small round table, very smooth, on 
which they throw some flour, and mix it with 
water to a paste, softer than that for bread. 
This paste they divide into round pieces, 
which they flatten as much as possible with a 
wooden roller, of a smaller diameter than an 
egg, until they make them as thin as I have 
mentioned. During this operation, they have 
a convex plate of iron placed on a tripod, and 
heated by a gentle fire underneath, on which 
they spread the cake, and instantly turn it, so 
that they make two of their cakes sooner than 
a waferman can make one wafer. 

I was two days traversing the country 
round the gulf. It is handsome, and had 
formerly many castles belonging to Christians, 
at present destroyed. Such was the one seen 
to the eastward before we arrived at Ayas. 



168 



The inhabitants are Turcomans, who are a 
handsome race, excellent archers, and living 
on little. Their dwellings are round, like 
pavilions, covered with felt. They live in the 
open plain, and have a chief whom they obey ; 
but they frequently change their situation, 
when they carry their houses with them. In 
this case, they are accustomed to submit 
themselves to the lord on whose lands they 
fix, and even to assist him with their arms, 
should he be at war. But should they quit 
his domains, and pass over to those of his 
enemy, they serve him in his turn against the 
other ; and they are noway thought the worse 
of for this, as it is their custom, and they are 
wanderers. 

On my road, I met one of their chiefs 
hawking with falcons, with which he took 
tame geese. I was told, that he might 
have under his command ten thousand 
Turcomans. The country is favourable to 
the chace, but intersected by many small 



169 

rivers that fall into the gulf. Wild boars are 
here abundant. 

About the centre of the gulf is a defile 
formed by a rock, under which the road 
passes : it is not two bow-shots from the sea ; 
and this passage was formerly defended by a 
castle, which made it very strong, but it is 
now in ruins. 

On leaving this streight, we entered a fine 
extensive plain inhabited by Turcomans : my 
companion, the Armenian, pointed out to me 
a castle on a mountain, where were only people 
of his nation, and the walls of which were 
washed by a river called Jehon. We travelled 
along the banks of this river to a town called 
Misse-sur- Jehon, because it runs through it. 

Mlsse, situated four days journey from 
Antioch, belonged to the Christians, and was 
a considerable city. Many churches, half 
destroyed, still remain : the choir of the great 
church is yet entire, but converted into a 
mosque. The bridge is of wood, the former 

z 



170 



itone one having been carried away by the 
floods. One half of the town is completely 
in ruins : the other half has preserved its walls, 
and about three hundred houses, filled with 
Turcomans* 

FromMisse to Adena,the country continues 
level and good, inhabited by Turcomans. 
Adena is two days journey from Misse, and 
I there proposed to wait for the caravan. It 
arrived : I went with the Mameluke, together 
with some others, many of whom were great 
merchants, to lodge near the bridge, between 
the river and the walls of the town ; and it was 
there I observed the manner of the Turks saying 
their prayers and offering sacrifice. They no 
way hid themselves from my notice, but on 
the contrary seemed well pleased when I said 
my Pater noster, which seemed to them 
wonderful. I sometimes heard them chaunt 
their prayers at the beginning of the night, — 
when they seat themselves in a circle, and 
shake their bodies and heads while they sing 
in a very uncouth manner. 



171 



One day, they carried me with them to 
the stoves and baths of the town ; and as I 
refused to bathe, for I must have undrest 
myself, and was afraid of showing my money, 
they gave me their clothes to keep. From this 
moment, we were much connected. 

The bath-house is very high, and terminated 
by a dome, in which a circular opening is 
contrived to light the whole interior. The 
stoves and baths are handsome, and very clean. 
When the bathers come out of the water, they 
seat themselves on small hardies of thin osiers, 
dry themselves, and comb their beards. 

It was at Adena I first saw the two young 
men who had got their eyes thrust out at Mecca? 
after having seen the tomb of Mohammed. 

The Turks bear well fatigue and a hard 
life: they are not incommoded, as I have 
witnessed, during the whole journey, by 
sleeping on the ground like animals. They 
are of a gay, cheerful humour, and willingly 
sing songs of the heroic deeds of their ancestors* 



172 



Any one, therefore, who wishes to live with 
them must not be grave or melancholy, but 
always have a smiling countenance. They are 
also men of probity, and charitable toward 
each other. 1 have often observed, that should 
a poor person pass by when they are eating, 
they would invite him to partake of their 
meal, which is a thing we never do. 

In many places, I found they did not bake 
their bread half as much as ours. It is soft, 
and, unless a person be accustomed to it, is 
difficult to be chewed. In regard to meat, 
they eat it raw, dried in the sun. When any 
of their beasts, horse or camel, is so dangerously 
ill that no hopes remain of saving its life, they 
cut its throat, and eat it not raw, but a little 
dressed. They are very clean in the dressing 
their meat, but eat it dirtily. They, in like 
manner, keep their beard very neat and clean, 
but never wash their hands but when they bathe, 
when they are about to say their prayers, or 
when they wash their beards and hinder parts, 



173 



Adena is a tolerably good commercial 
town, well inclosed with walls, situated in a 
fine country, and sufficiently near the sea. 
The river Adena, which is wide and rises 
among the high mountains of Armenia, flows 
beneath its walls. It has over it a long bridge, 
and the broadest I ever saw. Its inhabitants 
and prince are Turcomans : the prince is 
brother to the brave Ramedang, whom the 
sultan had murdered. I was told the sultan 
had his son in his power, but dared not suffer 
him to return into Turcomania. 

From Adena, I went to Thuro, which we 
call Tharsis. The country continues good, 
though near the mountains, and is inhabited 
by Turcomans, who live in villages or in tents. 
The district around Tharsis abounds in corn, 
wine, wood and water. It was a famous 
town, and very ancient buildings are still seen 
in it. I believe this was the town besieged by 
Baldwin, brother to Godfrey of Bouillon, 
At present it has a governor appointed by the 



174< 

sultan, and many Moors live within it. It is 
defended by a castle, with ditches ' a glacis,' 
and by a double wall, which in some parts is 
triple. A small river runs through it, and 
there is another at a short distance. 

I found there a cypriot merchant, named 
Antony, who had resided in this country a long 
time, and knew the language well. He talked 
to me very pertinently about it; but he did 
me another favour, that of giving me some 
good wine, for I had not tasted any for several 
days. 

Tharsis is but sixty miles from Curco, a 
castle built on the sea-shore, belonging to the 
king of Cyprus. 

In this whole country, they speak the 
turkish tongue, which begins even to be spoken 
at Antioch, the capital, as I have before said, 
of Turcomania. It is a very fine language, 
laconic, and easily learnt. 

As we had to cross the high mountains 
of Armenia, Hoyarbarach, the chief of our 



175 



caravan would have it all assembled ; and, for 
this purpose, he waited some days for those in 
the rear to come up. At last we departed, 
on the eve of All-souls-day. The Mameluke 
advised me to lay in provision for four days. 
I consequently purchased a sufficiency of bread 
and cheese for myself, and of oats and barley 
for my horse. On quitting Tharsis, we 
travelled three french leagues over a fine 
champaign country, peopled with Turcomans; 
and then we entered on the mountains, which 
are the highest I have ever seen. They skirt 
on three sides the country I had travelled over 
from Antioch : the sea bounds the other on 
the south. 

We first passed through woods during a 
whole day, but the road is not bad. We lodged 
in the evening at a narrow pass, where thers 
seemed to have been formerly a castie. The 
second day's journey was not at all disagreeable, 
and we passed the night at a caravansera. The 
third, we followed the banks of a small river 5 



116 



and saw on the mountains an innumerable 
quantity of speckled partridges. 

In the evening, we halted on a plain about 
a league in length and a quarter wide, where 
four great valleys met; — the one by which 
we had come, — another that runs northward, 
towards the country of the lord called 
Turcgadirony, and towards Persia : the third 
runs eastward, and I know not whether this 
also does not lead to Persia : the last extends 
to the westward, and it is that which I followed, 
and which conducted me to the country of 
the karman. Each of these four has a river, 
and the four rivers run to this last country. 

It snowed much during the night. To 
save my horse from the weather, I covered 
him with my capinat, the felt robe, which 
I used for a cloak; but I myself caught cold, 
and got that disagreeable disorder, a dysentery. 
Had it not been for my Mameluke, I should 
have been in great danger; but he assisted me, 
and made me instantly quit the place in which 



177 

1 was. We both, therefore, set off very early f 
and ascended the high mountains wheie the 
castle of Cublech is situated, and is the highest 
I am acquainted with. It is seen two days 
journey off; but sometimes we turned our 
backs to it, by reason of the windings of the 
mountains, sometimes also we lost sight of it, 
as it was hidden by their height. No one can 
penetrate into the country of the karman 
but on foot over the mountain on which 
this castle is built. The pass is narrow, 
and in some places has been perforated by 
the chissel, but it is - every where commanded 
by Cublech, This castle, the last which the 
Armenians lost, belongs at this day to the 
karman, who had it in his division after the 
death of Ramedang. 

These mountains are covered with 
perpetual snow, having only a road for horses, 
although there are some plains scattered among 
them. They are dangerous on account of the 
Turcomans who inhabit them; but during the 

A A 



17S 

four days I was travelling among them, I never 
perceived a single dwelling. 

On leaving the mountains of Armenia, to 
enter the country of the karman, there are 
still others to be crossed. On one of them is 
a pass, having a castle called Leve, where a 
toll is paid to the karman. This toll was 
farmed to a Greek, who, on seeing me, judged 
from my features that I was a Christian, and 
stopped me. If I had been forced to return I 
should have been a dead man, for I was 
afterward assured, that before I had gone half 
a league my throat would have been cut, for 
the caravan was at a great distance. Fortunately 
my Mameluke bribed the Greek, and, in 
consideration of two ducats that I gave him, 
he opened the passage. 

Further on is the castle of Asers, and, 
beyond that the castle of a town called Araclie 
(Eregli.) 

On descending the mountain, we entered 
a plain as level as the sea : then are seen some 



179 



heights toward the north, which, scattered 
here and there, appear like so many islands in 
the midst of the waves. It is on this plain 
that Eregli is situated, a town formerly 
inclosed, but now in the greatest state of ruin. 
I found there, however, some provision ; for 
my la^t four days journey from Tharsus had 
afforded me nothing but water. The environs 
of the town are covered with villages, inhabited 
chiefly by Turcomans. 

On quitting Eregli, we met two gentlemen 
of the country, who appeared to be men of 
distinction : they shewed great friendship to 
the Mameluke, and carried him to regale at 
an adjoining village, the dwellings of which 
are cut out of the rock. We passed the night 
there, but I was forced to stay the remainder 
of the time in a cavern, to take care of our 
horses. When the Mameluke returned, he told 
me that these two men had asked who I was, 
and that in his answer he had misled them, 
by saying I was a Circassian, who could not 
speak Arabic, 



ISO 



From Eregli to Larande, whether oui 
route lay, is two days journey, This town, 
though not inclosed, is large, commercial, and 
well situated. There was, in ancient times, a 
great and strong castle in the center of the 
town, the s;ates of which are now visible : they 
are of iron, and very handsome, but the walls 
are destroyed. There is a fine plain between 
these two towns ; and after I left Leve I did 
not notice a single tree in the open country. 

There were in Larande two cypriot 
gentlemen, the one named Lyachin Castrico, 
the other Leon Maschero, who both spoke 
very tolerable French *. They inquired of 
me my country, and what had brought me 
thither : I replied, that I was a servant of my 
lord of Burgundy, that I came from Jerusalem 

* The Lusignans, when kings of Cyprus, toward the 
end of the twelfth century, had introduced the french 
language into that island- It was at Cyprus, when St Louis 
put in there on his croisade to tgypt, that die code called i the 
Assizes of Jeiusalem' was drawn up and published, and which 
became the code of laws for the Cypriots. The french 
language continued to be that of the court and of weU 
educated persons, 



is; 



to Damascus, and was following the caravan. 
They appeared astonished that I had beer, 
suffered to pass; but when they had asked 
whither I was going, and I had answered., 
that I was on my return overland through 
France to my foresaid lord, — they told me it 
was impossible to be done, and that if I had 
a thousand lives, I should lose them all. In 
consequence, they proposed that I should 
return to Cyprus with them ; for there were 
at that island two galleys that had come thither 
to convey back the daughter of the king, who 
had been betrothed in marriage to the son of 
my lord of Savoy * ; and they doubted not 
but the king, from the love and respect he 
bore to the duke of Burgundy, would grant 
me a passage on board one of them. I replied, 
that, since God had graciously permitted that 

* Louis, son to Amadous VIII. duke of Savoy. He 
married in 1432 Anne de Lusiguan, daughter to jean II. king 
of Cyprus, deceased in the month of June, and sister to 
Jean III. then on the throne. 



1-91 

I should arrive at Larande, he would probably 
allow me to go further; but that, at all events, 
I was determined to finish my journey as I had 
begun it, or die in the attempt. 

I asked them, in my turn, whither they 
were going. They said their king was just 
dead : that during his life there had always 
been a truce with the grand karrnan, and that 
the young king and his council had sent them 
to renew this alliance. Being curious to make 
acquaintance with this great prince, whom his 
nation reverences as we do our king, I 
entreated permission to accompany them, to 
which they consented. 

I met likewise with another Cypriot at 
Larande, called Perrin Passerot, a merchant, 
who had resided some time in the country. 
He was from Famagousta, and had been 
banished from that town, because he and one 
of his brothers had attempted to deliver it up 
to the king, as it was then in the hands of the 
Genoese. 



183 



My Mameluke also met with five or six of 
his countrymen. They were young Circassian 
slaves, who were on their way to the residence 
of the sultan. He was desirous to regale them 
on their meeting ; and as he had heard there 
were Christians at Larande, he guessed they 
would not be without wine, and begged of mc 
to procure him some. By dint of inquiry, and 
for half a ducat, I was enabled to purchase the 
half of a goat-skin full, of which I made him 
a present. 

He shewed great joy on receiving it, and 
instantly went to his companions, with whom 
he passed the whole night drinking. He himself 
swallowed so much that on the morrow he was 
near dying on the road, but he cured himself 
by a method which is peculiar to them. In such 
cases, they have a very large bottle full of water, 
and as their stomach becomes empty, they drink 
water as long as they are able, as if they would 
rinse a bottle, which they throw up, and then 
drink of it again. He was thus employed on 



1 8 A 

the road until mid-day, when he was perfectly 
recovered. 

From Larande we went to Qulongue, 
called by the Greeks c Quhonguopoly 
These places are two days journey distant 
from each other. The country is fine, and 
well furnished with villages, but wants water, 
and has no trees but such as have been planted 
near houses for their fruit, nor any other river 
but that which runs near the town. 

This town is considerable and commercial^ 
defended by ditches ' en glacis,' and good walls 
strengthened with towers, and is the best the 
karman possesses. There remains a small 
castle ; formerly there was a very strong one 
in the center of the town, but it has been 
pulled down to furnish materials to build the 
prince's palace* 

I staid there four days, that the ambassador 
from Cyprus and the caravan might have time 

* The copyist has written it further on Quohongue am $ 
2uhongm. I shall write it henceforward Couhongue* 



to arrive. When the ambassador came, I 
asked him when he intended to wait on the 
karman, and repeated my request to be present, 
which he promised to grant. There were, 
however,amonghisslavesfourgreekrenegadoes, 
one of whom was his usher at arms, who united 
in their efforts to dissuade him from it ; but 
he replied, that he saw no inconvenience, 
and, beside, that I had shewn such eagerness 
to witness the ceremony, that he should take 
pleasure in obliging me. 

Fie was apprised of the hour when he 
might make his obeisance to the prince, inform 
him of the object of his mission, and offer his 
presents ; for it is an established custom in the 
east never to appear before a superior without 
bringing presents. His were six pieces of 
camlet of Cyprus, I know not how many ells 
of scarlet, forty sugar loaves, a peregrine falcon, 
two cross-bows, and a dozen of boits. 

Some genets were sent him to carry the 
presents ; and he and his attendants were 

B B 



186 

mounted on horses, which the great lords, 
who had come to the palace to attend the 
prince during this ceremony, had left at the 
gate. 

The ambassador made use of one of them, 
but dismounted at the entrance of the palace, 
when we were ushered into a large hall where 
there might be about three hundred persons. 
The prince occupied the adjoining apartment, 
around which were arranged thirty slaves 
standing : he was himself in a corner, seated 
on a carpet on the ground, according to the 
custom of the country, clad in a crimson and 
gold cloth, with his elbow leaning on a cushion 
of another sort of cloth of gold. Near him 
was his sword, his chancellor standing in 
front, and, at a little distance, three men 
seated. 

The presents were first laid before him. 
which he scarcely deigned to look at; then the 
ambassador entered, attended by an interpreter, 
because he did not understand the turkish 



187 



language. After the usual reverences, the 
chancellor demanded his credential letters, 
which he read aloud. The ambassador then 
addressed the king by means of his interpreter, 
and said, that the king of Cyprus had sent him 
to salute him, and to request that he would 
accept the presents now before him, as a mark 
of his friendship. 

The prince made no answer, but caused 
him to be seated on the ground after their 
manner, below the three persons before 
mentioned, and at some distance from the 
prince. He now inquired after the health of 
his brother the king of Cyprus, and was told 
that he had lost his father, and had 
commissioned him to renew the alliance that 
had subsisted between the two countries during 
the lifetime of the deceased, for which he was 
very anxious. The prince answered, that he 
desired it as earnestly. He then questioned 
the ambassador when the late king died, the 
age of his successor, if he were prudent, if his 



138 

country was obedient ; and, as to these last 
questions, the answer was 6 Yes :' he seemed 
well pleased. 

After these words, the ambassador was 
told to rise, which he did, and took leave of 
the prince, who did not move more at his 
departure than at his entrance. On leaving 
the palace, he found the same horses which 
had carried him thither; and, having mounted 
oneof them, he was reconducted to his lodgings; 
but he was scarcely entered when the ushers 
of arms presented themselves, for in these 
ceremonies it is customary to give them money 9 
and the ambassador did not neglect it. 

He next went to pay his compliments to 
the son of the prince, to offer him presents 
and deliver his letters. He was seated like his 
father, with three persons near him; but when 
the ambassador made his reverence, he rose up, 
then reseated himself, and placed the ambassador 
above these three personages. As for us who 
accompanied hirn, they placed us far behind, 



189 



Having noticed a bench, I was about to seat 
rmself on it without any ceremony; but I was 
pulled off, and made to bend my knees and 
crouch on the ground like the rest. 

On our return home, an usher of arms to 
the son visited us, as those of the father had 
done, who also received some money. These 
people, however, are satisfied with a little. 

The prince and his son, in their turn, sent 
the ambassador a present for his expenses, 
which is likewise one of their customs. The 
first sent fifty aspres, the second thirty. An 
aspre is the money of the country, and fifty 
are equal in value to a Venetian ducat. 

I saw the prince go through the town in 
procession on a Friday, which is a holiday to 
them, when he was going to say his prayers. 
His guards were about fifty horsemen, the 
greater part his slaves, and about thirty 
infantry, who surrounded him. He bore g, 
sword in his belt, and had a tabolcan at the 
pummel of his saddle, according to the custom 



190 



of the country. He and his son have been 
baptised in the greek manner, to take off the 
bad smell; and I was told that the son's mother 
was a Christian. It is thus all the grandees 
get themselves baptised, that they may not 
stink. 

His territories are considerable : they begin 
one day's journey on this side Tharsus, and 
extend to the country of Amurath Bey, the 
other karman I spoke of, and whom we call 
the Grand Turk. In this line they are, as it 
is said, twenty leagues wide; but they are 
sixteen days journey in length, as I know well 
from having travelled them. They extend, as 
they assured me, on the north-east, as far as 
the frontiers of Persia. 

The karman possesses also a maritime 
coast, called the Farsats. It extends from 
Tharsus to Courco, which belongs to the 
king of Cyprus, and to a port called ZabarL 
This district produces the most expert sailors 
known, but they have revolted against him> 



191 



The karman is a handsome prince, about 
thirty-two years old, and married to a sister of 
Amurath Bey. He is well obeyed by his 
subjects, although I have heard people say 
he was very cruel, and that few days passed 
without some noses, feet or hands being cut 
off, or some one put to death. Should any 
man be rich, he condemns him to die that he 
may seize his fortune ; and it is said, that the 
greater part of his nobles have thus perished. 
Eight days before my arrival, he had caused one 
to be torn to pieces by dogs. Two days after 
this execution, he had caused one of his wives 
to be put to death, even the mother of his eldest 
son, who, when I saw him, knew nothing of 
this murder. 

The inhabitants of the country are a bad 
race, — thieves, cheats, and great assassins : they 
kill each other, and justice is so relaxed that 
they are never arrested for it. 

I found at Couhongue Antoine Passerot, 
brother to Perrin Passerot whom I had seen at 



192 



Larande. They had both been accused of 
attempting to deliver Famagousta to the king 
of Cyprus, and had been banished. They had 
retired to the states of the karman ; the one to 
Larande, the other to Couhongue. Antony 
had been unfortunate. Vice sometimes blinds 
people; and he had been caught with a 
mohammedan woman, and the king had 
forced him to deny his religion to escape 
death ; but he appeared to be still a staunch 
Catholic. In our conversations, he told me 
many particulars of the country, of the 
character and the government of the prince, 
and especially as to the manner in which he 
had taken and delivered up Ramedang. 

The karman, he said, had a brother 
whom he banished from the country, and who 
took refuge at the court of the sultan, where 
he found an asylum. The sultan did not 
dare to declare war against him, but gave 
him to understand, that unless he delivered 
Ramedang into his hands he would send his 



193 

brother with troops so to do. The karman 
made no hesitation, and rather than fight 
with him committed an infamous treason in 
regard to his brother-in-law. Antony added, 
that he was weak and cowardly, although his 
people are the bravest in all Turkey. His real 
name is Imbreymbas; but he is called Karman, 
from his being the lord of the country. 

Although he is allied to the grand Turk, 
having married his sister, he detests him for 
having taken from him a portion of the karman. 
He is, however, afraid to make war on him, 
as he is the stronger; but I am persuaded 
that if he saw him successfully attacked by the 
Europeans, he would not leave him in peace. 

In traversing his country, I passed near 
the frontiers of another, called Gasserie, 
which is bounded on one side by the karman, 
and on the other by the high mountains of 
Turcomania that extend toward Tharsis and 
Persia. Its lord is a valiant warrior, called 
Gadiroly, who has under his command thirty 

c c 



thousand turcoman men at arms, and about 
one hundred thousand women as brave and as 
fit for combat as men. 

There are four lords continually at war 
with each other, — Gadiroly, Quharaynich, 
Quaraychust, and the son of Tamerlan, who 
is said to govern Persia. 

Antony told me, that when I quitted the 
mountains on the other side of Eregli, I had 
passed within half a day's journey of a celebrated 
town where the bodv of St Basil is interred, 
and spoke of it in such a manner that I had 
a wish to see it : but he so strongly represented 
that I should lose more by separating myself 
from the caravan, and expose myself to great 
risks by travelling alone, that I renounced all 
thoughts of it. 

He owned to me, that his intentions were 
to accompany me to my lord the duke ; for 
that he had no desire to become a Saracen, and 
that, if he had entered into any engagements 
©n this head, it was solely to escape death. It 



195 



had been ordered that he should be circumcised, 
and he was expecting the execution of it daily, 
which gave him many fears. He was a very 
handsome man, about thirty-six years old. 

He told me also, that the natives offer up 
public prayers in their mosques, like as we do 
in our churches on Sundays, in behalf of 
Christian princes, and for other objects which 
we ask from God. Now one of the things 
they pray to God for is, to deliver them from 
the coming of such a man as Godfrey of 
Bouillon. 

The chief of the caravan making 
preparations to depart, I went to take leave 
of the cypriot ambassadors. They had 
flattered themselves that I would return with 
them, and renewed their entreaties, assuring 
me that I should never complete my journey; 
but I persisted. It was at Couhongue that 
the caravan broke up. Hoyarbarach took 
with him only his own people, his wife, two 
of his children, whom he had carried with 



196 



him to Mecca, one or two foreign women, 
and myself. 

I bade adieu to my Mameluke. This 
good man, whose name was Mohammed, 
had done me innumerable services. He was 
very charitable, and never refused alms when 
asked in the name of God. It was through 
charity he had been so kind to me, and I must 
confess that without his assistance I could not 
have performed my journey without incurring 
the greatest danger; and that, had it not been 
for his kindness, I should often have been 
exposed to cold and hunger, and much 
embarrassed with my horse. 

On taking leave of him, I was desirous 
of shewing my gratitude ; but he would never 
accept of any thing except a piece of our fine 
european cloth to cover his head, which seemed 
to please him much. He told me all the 
occasions that had come to his knowledge, 
on which, if it had not been for him, I should 
have run risks of being assassinated, and 



191 



warned me to be very circumspect in my 
connections with the Saracens, for that there 
were among them some as wicked as the 
Franks. I write this to recal to my reader's 
memory, that the person who, from his love to 
God, did me so many and essential kindnesses, 
was a man not of our faith. 

The country we travelled through, on 
leaving Couhongue, is handsome, with tolerably 
good villages, but the inhabitants are wicked. 
Hoyarbarach forbade me to go out of my 
quarters w T hen we halted, even in villages, for 
fear lest I should be assassinated. There is 
near this place a celebrated bath, to which sick 
persons come for a cureof their several disorders. 
There are the remains of many houses that 
formerly belonged to the knights-hospitallers 
of Jerusalem, with the cross of Jerusalem on 
them. 

After three days march, we came to a small 
town, called Achsaray, situated at the foot of 
a high mountain that shelters it from the south. 



198 



The country is level, but not populous, and 
the natives have a bad character : I was 
consequently forbidden to leave my house in 
the evening. 

I travelled the ensuing day between two 
high mountains, whose tops are crowned 
with wood. The district is well peopled, 
partly by the Turcomans, and consists of 
pasture and marsh land. I there crossed a 
little brook that divides this country of karman 
from that of the other karman possessed by 
Amurath Bey, called by us the Grand Turk. 
This division resembles the former, in being a 
flat country, with mountains here and there. 

On our road, we passed a town with a 
castle, called Achanay, and further on we 
came to a caravansera, where we intended to 
pass the night, but we found there twenty-five 
asses. Our commander refused to enter, and 
preferred returning a league back to a large 
village, where we lodged, and found bread, 
cheese and milk. 



199 



From this place we went to Carassar, 
which took two days. Carassar, in the turkish 
language, signifies ' black stone.' It is the 
capital of the country that Amurath Bey took 
by force of arms. Although uninclosed, it is 
a place of considerable trade, and has one of 
the finest castles I have seen, but without any 
other water than what is collected in cisterns. 
It is seated on the summit of a high rock, so 
round that it might be thought to be worked 
withachissel. Below it is the town, surrounding 
it on three sides; but both are commanded by 
a mountain, from the north east to the north 
west. The other side opens to a plain, through 
which runs a river. Not long ago, the Greeks 
had gained possession of this place, but 
afterward lost it by their cowardice. 

They dress sheeps feet here with a 
cleanliness I have no where seen. I regaled 
myself with them the more eagerly, as I had 
not eaten any dressed meat since I had left 
Couhongue. They cook also a nice dish with 



200 



green walnuts. Their manner is to peel them, 
cut them into two, and put them on a string : 
then they are besprinkled with boiled wine, 
which attaches itself to them, and forms a jelly 
like paste all around them. It is a very agreeable 
food, especially when a person is hungry. We 
were obliged to lay in a stock of bread and 
cheese for two days, as I was disgusted with 
raw meat. 

Two days were employed in journeying 
from Carassar to Cotthay. The country is 
good, well watered, having no very high 
mountains. We traversed one end of a forest, 
which seemed to me only remarkable for 
consisting entirely of oak, taller and larger 
than any I had hitherto met with, having 
besides, like fir-trees, branches only at the top. 

We took up our quarters for the night at 
a caravansera, distant from any habitations. 
We found there barley and straw in plenty, 
and we could the more easily have supplied 
our wants, as there was but a single servant 



201 



to' take care of them ; but the owners never 
have any thing to fear of this kind, for at such 
places there is no man so bold as to take the 
smallest article without paying for it. 

On our road was a small river, renowned 
for its water. Hoyarbarach went to drink of 
it with his women, and wished me to do the 
same, he himself offering me some in his leathern 
cup. This was the first time on the journey 
that he had done me this favour. 

Cotthay, although pretty considerable, is 
without walls; but it has a handsome and large 
castle, composed of three forts rising one above 
the other, on the declivity of a hill, which has a 
double inclosure. This place was the residence 
of the son of the grand Turk. 

There was a caravansera in the town, 
whither we went to lodge. It was already 
occupied by a party of Turks, and we were 
ob iged, according to custom, to turn our 
horses together pell-mell. On the morrow 
morning, when making ready to depart, 

B D 



202 

I perceived that one of my straps had beta 
taken, which served to fasten on my horse's 
crupper, my carpets and other things I carried 
behind me. 

At first, I began to cry out with much 
noise and anger; but there was a turkish slave 
present, one belonging to the sultan's son, 
a man of weight and about fifty years old, 
who, hearing me speak the language very 
incorrectly, took me by the hand, and 
conducted me to the gate of the caravansera, 
when he asked me in Italian who I was ? 1 was 
stupified to hear him thus speak, and replied 
that I was a Frank. ' Whence do you 
come ?' 6 From Damascus, in company with 
Hoyarbarach, and I am going to Bursa to 
meet one of my brothers.' i Indeed ! but 
you are a spy, and come to make your 
remarks on this country. If you were not, 
would you not have embarked, and returned 
home by sea?' 

This unexpected accusation confounded 
*ne : I answered, however, that the Venetians 



20S 



and Genoese were carrying on so bitter a war 
that I was afraid to venture by sea. He asked 
whence I came ? 6 From the kingdom of 
France,' was my answer. ' Are you from 
the neighbourhood of Paris ?' I replied, 
I was not, — and in my turn asked if he were 
acquainted with Paris? He said he had 
formerly been there with a captain, named 
Bernabo. 6 Take my advice,' continued he: 
4 return to the caravansera, seek your horse, 
and bring him hither to me, for there are 
some albanian slaves, who will steal from you 
every thing he carries. While I am taking 
care of him, do you go and breakfast, and 
procure for yourself and your horse provision 
for five days, for so long will you be on the 
road without meeting with any.' 

I followed his advice, and went to 
purchase provision. I breakfasted also the 
more heartily as I had not, for two days tasted 
meat, and was told that I must not expect to 
meet with any for five days more. 



20-* 



When I quitted the caravansera, I took 
the road to Bursa, leaving that leading to 
Troy on my left, between the south and west 
points. There were many high mountains, 
several of which I had to pass over. 1 had 
also two days journey through forests, after 
which I traversed a handsome plain in which 
are some villages good enough for the country. 
Half a day's journey from Bursa, we came 
to one that supplied us with meat and 
grapes, — which last were as fresh as in the 
time of vintage : this mode of preserving them 
is a secret they have. The Turks offered 
me some roast meat ; but it was not half 
dressed, and as the meat was roasting on 
the spit we cut off slices. We had also 
some kaymack, buffalo cream ; and it was so 
good and sweet that I eat of it till I almost 
burst. 

Before we entered this last village, we 
noticed the arrival of a Turk from Bursa, 
w ho had been sent to -the wife of Hoyarbarach, 



205 



to announce to her the death of her father, 
She shewed great grief on the occasion, and 
I had then, for the first time, an opportunity 
of seeing her face uncovered. She was a most 
beautiful woman. 

There was at this place a renegado slave, 
a native of Bulgaria, who through affectation 
of zeal, and to shew himself a good Saracen, 
reproached the Turks of the caravan for having 
allowed me to be in their company, saying it 
was sinful in them to do so, who were returning 
from the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. In 
consequence, they notified to me that we 
must separate, and I was obliged to set off 
for Bursa. 

I departed, therefore, on the morrow, an 
hour before day, with the aid of God, who 
had hitherto conducted me. He now guided 
me so well, that I never asked my road more 
than once on the whole way. 

On entering the town, 1 met numbers of 
people coming out to meet the caravan, for 



t06 

such is the custom. The most considerable 
look on it as a duty, and it constitutes a 
festival. Several of them, supposing I was 
one of the pilgrims, kissed my hands and 
robe. When I had entered the town, I was 
greatly embarrassed, for I had come to a square 
that had four streets opening from it, and 
I knew not which to take. God again pointed 
out to me the right one, that which leads to 
the bazar, where the merchants reside with 
their merchandize. I addressed myself to the 
first Christian I saw, and fortunately he 
happened to be one of the Espinolis of Genoa, 
the very person to whom Parvesin of Baruth 
had given me letters. 

He was much surprised to see me, and 
conducted me to the house of a Florentine, 
where I was lodged, as well as my horse. 

I remained there ten days, and employed 
that time in examining the town, being 
conducted by the merchants, who took great 
pleasure in so doing 



207 

Of all the towns in the possession of the 
Turks, this is the most considerable. It is of 
great extent, carries on considerable trade, and is 
situated at the foot of the north side of mount 
Olympus, whence flows a river which, passing 
through the town, divides itself into several 
branches, forming, as it were, a number of 
small towns that make it look larger than it is. 

It is at Bursa that the turkish sultans arc 
buried. There are many handsome buildings, 
and particularly a great number of hospitals, 
among which there are four, where bread, wine 
and meat are frequently distributed to the poor 
who will accept of them for the sake of God. 
At one of the extremities of the town, toward 
the west, is an handsome and vast castle, built 
on an eminence that may well contain a 
thousand houses. There is also the palace of 
the sultan, which they told me was a very 
delightful place within side, having a garden 
and pretty pond. The prince had at that time 
fifty wives; and he often, as they said, amuses 



208 



himself in a boat with some of them on this 
piece of water. 

Bursa was also the residence of Camurat, 
bashaw, or, as we should say, governor or 
lieutenant of Turkey. He is a very brave 
man, the most active the Turk has, and the 
most able to conduct any enterprise, which 
qualities have been the principal cause of his 
elevation to this lieutenancy. 

I asked if he governed the country well, 
and if he knew how to make himself obeyed ? 
I was told that he was obeyed and respected 
like Amurath himself, and had for his salary- 
fifty thousand ducats a-year ; and that, when 
the Turk went to war, he brought him, at his 
own expense, twenty thousand men ; but that 
he had likewise his pensioners, who in this case 
were bound to supply him at their charges, one 
with a thousand men, another with two, another 
with three thousand, and so on with the rest. 

There are in Bursa two bazars; one where 
all sorts of silken stuffs, rich and brilliant 



209 



diamonds are sold, great quantities of pearls, 
and cheap cotton cloths, and a variety of 
other merchandise, the enumeration of which 
would be tiresome. In the other bazar, cotton 
and white soap are sold, and constitute a great 
article of commerce. 

I saw also, in a market-house, a lamentable 
sight,— a public sale of Christians for slaves, 
both men and women. The custom is to 
make them sit down on benches, and he who 
comes to buy sees only the face, the hands, and 
a little of the arm of the females. I witnessed 
at Damascus the sale of a young black girl, of 
not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age : 
she was led along the streets quite naked, 
excepting the belly, the hinder parts, and a 
little below them. 

It was at Bursa that I eat, for the first time, 
caviare and olive oil. This food is only fit for 
Greeks, and when nothing better can be had. 
Some days after the return of Hoyarbarach, 
I went to take leave of him, and to thank him 

E E 



210 

for the means he had procured me of continuing 
my journey to this place. I found him in the 
bazar, seated on an elevated stone bench, with 
many of the principal inhabitants of the town. 
The merchants had accompanied me in this 
visit : some of them, Florentines by nation, 
interested themselves on behalf of a Spaniard, 
who, having been a slave to the sultan, found 
means to escape from Egypt and come to 
Bursa* They begged I would take him with 
me. I carried him at my expense as far as 
Constantinople, where I left him ; but I am 
persuaded he was a renegado, and I have never 
heard any thing of him since. 

Three Genoese had bought spices from 
the merchants of the caravan, and intended 
carrying them to Pera, near Constantinople} 
and on the other side of the streights which 
we call the streights of St George, for sale, 
Wishing to take the advantage of their company, 
I waited for their departure, and for this reason 
staid at Bursa, for no one can pass this streight 
unless he be known. In this view, thej 



211 



procured me a letter from the governor, 
which I carried with me ; but it was useless, 
for 1 found means to cross with them. We 
set out together ; but they made me, for 
greater security, buy a high red hat with a 
huvette of iron wire *, which I wore as far as 
Constantinople. 

On leaving Bursa, we travelled northward 
over a plain, watered by a deep river, which, 
about four leagues lower down, falls into the 
gulph between Constantinople arid Gallipoli. 
We had a day's journey among mountains, 
which wood and a clayey soil made very 
disagreeable. There was on the road a small 
tree bearing a fruit somewhat bigger than our 
largest cherries, and of the shape and taste of 
strawberries, but a little acid. It is pleasant 
to eat; but if a great quantity be eaten, it 
mounts to the head, and intoxicates. It is 
ripe in November and December 

* Huvette, — a kind of ornament worn on the hat. 
i From the description, it seems to be the Arbutus Andrachne, 



212 



From the summit of the mountain, the 
gulph of Gallipoli is visible ; and, when wc 
had descended it, we entered a valley terminated 
by a very large lake, round which many houses 
are built. It was there I first saw turkish 
carpets made, I passed the night in this, 
valley, which is very fertile in rice. 

On pursuing our road, we came sometimes 
to mountains, valleys, pasture-lands, and great 
forests, which would be impossible to pass 
without a guide, and where the horses plunge 
so deeply in the soil they can hardly extricate 
themselves. I believe, for my part, that this 
is the forest spoken of in the history of Godfrey 
of Bouillon, which he had such difficulty tq 
traverse. 

I passed the night on the further side of it, 
at a village within four leagues of Nicomedia, 
which is a large town, with a harbour for 
shipping. This harbour is called Lenguo, and 
commences at the gulph of Constantinople, 
#nd extends to the town, where it is a bow-sho? 



213 



in breadth. All this country is difficult 
to travel ; but beyond Nicomedia, toward 
Constantinople, it is very fine, and tolerably 
good travelling. It is more peopled with 
Greeks than Turks; but these Greeks have 
a greater aversion to the latin Christians than 
the Turks themselves. 

I coasted the gulph of Constantinople, 
and, leaving the road to Nicea, a town 
situated to the northward near the Black Sea, 
I successively lodged at a village, in ruins, 
inhabited solely by Greeks,— then at another, 
near to Scutari, — and lastly at Scutari itself, 
on the streight, and opposite to Pera. 

The Turks guard this passage, and receive 
a toll from all who cross it. It has rocks that 
would make it easy of defence, if they were 
fortified. Men and horses can readily embark 
and disembark. My companions and I crossed 
in two greek vessels. The owners of my boat 
took me for a Turk, and paid me great honours; 



214 

but when they saw me, after landing, leave 
my horse at the gate of Pera to be taken care 
of, and inquire after a genoese merchant, named 
Christopher Parvesin, to whom I had letters, 
they suspected I was a Christian. 

Two of them waited for me at the gate ; 
and when I returned for my horse, they 
demanded more than I had agreed on for my 
passage, and wanted to cheat me. I believe 
they would even have struck me, had they 
dared : I had my sword and my good tarquais; 
but a genoese shoemaker, who lived hard by, 
coming to my aid, they were forced to retreat 
I mention this as a warning to travellers, who, 
like me, may have any thing to do .with the 
Greeks. All those with whom I have had any 
concerns have only made me more suspicious, 
for 1 have found more probity in the Turks. 

These people love not the Christians of 
the roman persuasion, and the submission which 
they have since made to this church was more 



215 



throu gh self-interest than sincerity * . Therefore 
I have been told, that a little before I came to 
Constantinople, the pope, in a general council, 
had declared them schismatics and accursed, 
and had devoted them to be the slaves of 
slaves -f. 

* In 1438 John Paleologus II. came to Italy to form 
an union between the greek and latin churches, which took 
place the ensuing year at the council of Florence. But this 
step, as la Brocquiere remarks, was, on the part of the emperor, 
but a political operation, dictated by interest, and without 
consequence. His dominions were then in so miserable a 
state, and himself so hairassed by the Turks, that he was 
anxious to procure the aid of the Latins ; and it was with this 
hope that he had come to inveigle the pope. This epocha, 
ef 1438, is of consequence to our travels; for it proves, since 
la Brocquiere quotes it, that he published it posterior to that 
year. 

f A false fact. The general council that took place 
a little before he came to Constantinople was that of Basil in 
1431, when, far from anathematising and cursing the Greeks, 
it was occupied about their re-union. This pretended 
malediction was undoubtedly a report, which those who were 
against this re-union spread abroad in Constantinople ; and 
the traveller seems to have understood it by the expression, it 
was told me. 



C 216 

Pera is a large town, inhabited by Greeks, 
Jews and Genoese : the last are masters of it, 
under the duke of Milan, who styles himself 
Lord of Pera. It has a podestat and other 
officers, who govern it after their manner. 

A great commerce is carried on with the 
Turks ; but the latter have a singular privilege, 
namely, that should any of their slaves run 
away, and seek an asylum in Pera, they must 
be given up. 

The port is the handsomest of all I have 
seen, and I believe I may add, of any in the 
possession of the Christians, for the largest 
genoese vessels may lie alongside the quays ; 
but as all the world knows this, I shall not 
say more. It, however, seems to me, that on 
the land side, and near the church, in the 
vicinity of the gate at the extremity of the 
haven, the place is weak. 

I met at Pera an ambassador from the 
duke of Milan, named Sir Benedicto d? 



217 



Fourlino. The duke, wanting the support of 
the emperor Sigismond against the Venetians, 
and seeing Sigismond embarrassed with the 
defence of his kingdom of Hungary against 
the Turks, had sent an embassy to Amurath, 
to negotiate a peace between these two princes. 

Sir Benedicto, in honour of my lord of 
Burgundy, gave me a gracious reception. 
He even told me, that to do mischief to the 
Venetians, he had contributed to make them 
lose Salonica, taken from them by the Tur&s; 
and certainly in this he acted so much the 
worse, for I have since seen the inhabitants of 
that town deny Jesus Christ, and embrace 
the mohammedan religion. 

There was also at Pera, a Neapolitan, 
called Peter of Naples, with whom I was 
acquainted. He said he was married in the 
country of Prester John, and made many 
efforts to induce me to go thither with him. 
I questioned him much respecting this country, 
and he told me many things which i shall here 

F F 



218 



insert; but I know not whether what he said be 
the truth, and shall not therefore warrant any 
part of it *. 

Two days after my arrival at Pera, I 
crossed the haven to Constantinople, to visit 
that city. It is large and spacious, having the 
form of a triangle: one side is bounded by the 
streights of St George, — another, toward the 
south, by the bay, which extends as far as 
Gallipoli, and on the north side is the port. 

There are, it is said, three large towns 
on the earth, each inclosing seven hills, — 
Rome, Constantinople and Antioch. Rome 
is, I think, larger and more compact than 
Constantinople. As for Antioch, as I only saw 
it when passing by, I cannot speak of its size : 

* The manner in which our traveller here announces 
the relation of the Neapolitan shows how little he believed it ; 
and in this, his usual good sense does not forsake him. This 
recital is, in fact, but a tissue of absurd fables, and revolting 
marvels, undeserving to be quoted, although they may generally 
be found in authors of those times. We shall omit them, and 
•let the traveller continue his narration. 



219 



its hills, however, appeared to me higher than 
those of the two others. 

They estimate the circuit of the city of 
Constantinople at eighteen miles, a third of 
which is on the land side toward the west. It 
is well inclosed with walls, particularly on the 
land side. This extent, estimated at six miles 
from one angle to the other, has likewise a deep 
ditch, 6 en glacis,' excepting for about two 
hundred paces at one of its extremities, near 
the palace called la Blaquerne. I was assured 
that the Turks had failed in their attempt to 
take the town at this weak part. Fifteen or 
twenty feet in front of this ditch, is a false bray 
of a good and high wall. At the two extremities 
of this line, were formerly handsome palaces 
which, if we may judge from their present ruins, 
were also very strong. I was told they had 
been destroyed by an emperor, when taken 
prisoner by the Turks and in danger of 
his life. The conqueror insisted on his 
surrendering Constantinople, and, in case of 



220 

refusal, threatened to put him to death. The 
other replied, that he preferred death to the 
disgrace of afflicting Christendom by so great 
a loss, and that his death would be nothing in 
comparison. When the Turk saw he could 
gain nothing by this means, he offered him his 
liberty on condition that the square in front of 
St Sophia should be demolished, with the two 
palaces. His project was, thus to weaken the 
town, that he might the more easily take it. 
The emperor accepted his offers, the proof of 
which exists at this day. 

Constantinople is formed of many separate 
parts, so that it contains several open spaces to 
a greater extent than those built on. The 
largest vessels can anchor under its walls as at 
Fera : it has beside a small harbour in the 
interior, capable of containing three or four 
galleys. This is situated to the southward, 
near a gate, where a hillock is pointed out 
composed of bones of the Christians, who 
after the conquests of Jerusalem and Acre, by 



221 



Godfrey of Bouillon, were returning by this 
streight. When the Greeks had ferried them 
over, they conducted them to this place, which 
is remote and secret, where they were murdered. 
The whole, although a very nuriierous body, 
would have thus perished, had not a page 
found means to re-cross to Asia, and inform 
them of the danger that awaited them. On 
this, they spread themselves on the shores 
of the Black Sea ; and from them are said 
to be descended those rude Christians who 
inhabit that part of the country, — Circassians, 
Mingrelians, Ziques, Gothlans and Anangats. 
But as this is an old story, I know of it no 
more than what was told me. 

The city has many handsome churches ; 
but the most remarkable and principal is that 
of St Sophia, where the patriarch resides, with 
others of the rank of canons. It is of a circular 
sh ape, situated near the eastern point, and formed 
of three different parts, — one suoterraneous, 
another above the ground, and a third over 



222 



that. Formerly it was surrounded by cloisters, 
and was three miles, as they say, in circumference. 
It is now of smaller extent, and only three 
cloisters remain, all paved, and incrusted with 
squares of white marble, and ornamented with 
large columns of various colours *. The 
gates are remarkable for their breadth and 
height, and are of brass. 

This church, they say, possesses one of 
the robes of our Lord, — the end of the lance 
that pierced his side, — the sponge that was 
offered him to drink from, — and the reed that 
was put into his hand. I can only say, that 
behind the choir, 1 was shewn the gridiron on 
which St Laurence was broiled, — and a large 
stone, in the shape of a wash-stand, on which, 
they say, Abraham gave the angels to eat, 

* Two of these galleries, or porticos, called by our 
author cloisters, as well as the columns, still subsist. These 
last are formed of different materials, porphyry, granite, 
marble, &c. ; and this is the reason why the traveller, not 
being a naturalist, represents them as being of various 
colours. 



22S 



when they were going to destroy Sodom and 
Gomorrah. 

I was curious to witness the manner of the 
Greeks performing divine service, and went to 
St Sophia on a day when the patriarch officiated . 
The emperor was present, accompanied by his 
wife, his mother, and brother, the despot of 
the Morea*. A mystery was represented, the 
subject of which was the three youths whom 
Nebuchadnezzar had ordered to be thrown into 
the fiery furnace f . 

The empress, daughter to the emperor of 
Trebisonde, seemed very handsome ; but, as I 
was at a distance, I wished to have a nearer 
view, — and I was also desirous to see how she 

* This emperor was John Paleologus IT. — his brother 
Demetrius, despot or prince of the Peloponesus, — his mother 
Irene, daughter to Constantine Dragases, sovereign of a small 
country in Macedonia, — his wife Maria Comnenes, daughter 
to Alexis, emperor of Trebisonde. 

f These devout farces were then as common in the 
creek church as in the latin. They were called 4 Mysteries' 
in France ; and this is the name given by our traveller to the 
•ne he saw in St Sophia. 



mounted her horse ; for it was thus she had 
come to the church, attended only by two 
ladies, three old men, ministers of state, and 
three of that species of men to whose guard 
the Turks entrust their wives. On coming 
out of St Sophia, she went into an adjoining 
house to dine, which obliged me to wait until 
she returned to her palace, and consequently to 
pass the whole day without eating or drinking; 
At length she appeared. A bench was brought 
forth, and placed near her horse, which was 
superb, and had a magnificent saddle. When 
she had mounted the bench, one of the old men 
took the long mantle she wore, passed to the 
opposite side of the horse, and held it in his 
hands extended as high as he could : during 
this, she put her foot in the stirrup, and bestrode 
the horse like a man. When she was in her 
seat, the old man cast the mantle over her 
shoulders ; after which one of those long hats, 
with a point, so common in Greece, was given 
to her: it was ornamented at one of the 



225 



extremities with three golden plumes, and was 
very becoming. 

I was so near that I was ordered to fall 
back, and consequently had a full view of her. 
She wore in her ears broad and flat rings, set 
with several precious stones, especially rubies. 
She looked young and fair, and handsomer 
than when in church. In one word, I should 
not have had a fault to find with her, had she 
not been painted, and assuredly she had not 
any need of it. 

The two ladies mounted their horses at 
the same time that she did : they were both 
handsome, and wore, like her, mantles and 
hats. The company returned to the palace 
of la Blaquerne. 

In the front of St Sophia is a large 
and handsome square, surrounded with walls 
like a palace, where games were performed in 
ancient times *, I saw the brother of the 

* The Greek Hippodrome, — at present the Atmeidan 
of the Turks. 

G G 



126 

emperor, the despot of the Morea, exercising 
himself there, with a score of other horsemen. 
Each had a bow, and they galloped along 
the inclosure, throwing their hats before 
them, which, when they had passed, they 
shot at ; and he who with his arrow pierced 
his hat, or was nearest to it, was esteemed 
the most expert. This exercise they had 
adopted from the Turks, and was one of 
which they were endeavouring to make> 
themselves masters. 

On this side, near the point of the angle, 
-*> is the beautiful church of St George, which 
has, fronting Turkey in Asia, a tower at the 
narrowest part of the streights. 

On the other side, to the westward, is a 
very high square column, with characters 
traced on it, and bearing on the summit an 
equestrian statue of Constantine in bronze. 
He holds a sceptre in his left hand, with his 
right extended towards Turkey in Asia, and 
the road to Jerusalem, as if to denote that the 



227 



wholeof that country was under his government. 
Near this column are three others, placed in a 
line, and of one single piece, bearing three gilt 
horses, now at Venice *\ 

In the pretty church of the Pantheacrator, 
occupied by greek monks, who are what we 
should call in France Grey Franciscan Friars, 
I was shewn a stone or table of divers colours, 
which Nicodemus had caused to be cut to be 
placed on his tomb, and which he made use of 
to lay out the body of our Lord, when he 
took him down from the cross. During this 
operation, the virgin was weeping over the 
body; but her tears, instead of remaining on 
it, fell on the stone, and they are all now to be 
seen upon it. I at first took them for drops of 
wax, and touched them with my hand, and 
then bended down to look at them horizontally, 
and against the light, when they seemed to me 
like drops of congealed water. This is a thing 

* There are four, — and now at Paris. 



228 



that may have been seen by many persons as 
well as myself. 

In the same church are the tombs of 
Constantine and of St Helena, his mother, 
raised each about eight feet high on a column, 
having its summit terminated in a point, cut 
into four sides, in the fashion of a diamond. 

It is reported that the Venetians, while in 
power at Constantinople, took the body of 
St Helena from its tomb, and carried it to 
Venice, where they say it is now entire. It is 
added, that they attempted the same thing in 
regard to the body of Constantine, but could 
not succeed ; and this is probable enough, for 
to this day two broken parts are to be seen, 
where they made the attempt. The two tombs 
are of red jasper. 

In the church of St Apostola is shewn 
the broken shaft of the column to which our 
Saviour was fastened when he was beaten with 
reds, by order of Pilate. This shaft, longer 
than the height of a man, is of the same stone 



229 



•with the two others that I have seen, at Rome 
and at Jerusalem ; but this exceeds in size the 
other two put together. 

There are likewise in the same church, in 
wooden coffins, many holy bodies, very entire, 
and any one that chooses may see them. One 
of them had his head cut off, and that of 
another saint has been given him. The Greeks, 
however, have not the like devotion that we 
have for these relics. It is the same in respect 
to the stone of Nicodemus and the pillar of our 
Lord, — which last is simply inclosed by planks, 
and placed upright near one of the columns on 
the right hand of the great entrance at the front 
of the church. 

Among the fine churches, I shall mention 
one more as remarkable, namely that called La 
Blaquerne, from being near the imperial palace, 
which, although small and badly roofed, has 
paintings, with a pavement and incrustations 
of marble. I doubt not but there may be 
others worthy of notice, but I was unable to 



230 



visit them all. The latin merchants have one 
situated opposite to the passage to Pera, where 
mass, after the roman manner, is daily said. 

There are merchants from all nations 
in this town, — but none so powerful as the 
Venetians, who have a bailiff that regulates 
all their affairs, independent of the emperor 
and his officers. This privilege they have 
enjoyed for a long time^. It is even said, 
that they have twice by their galleys saved 
the town from the Turks ; but, for my part, 
I believe that God has spared it, more for the 
holy relics it contains than for any thing else. 
The Turks have also an officer to superintend 
their commerce, who, like the Venetian bailiff, 
is independent of the emperor : they have even 
the privilege, that if one of their slaves shall 
run away, and take refuge within the city, on 
their demanding him, the emperor is bound to 
give him up. 

* Since the conquest of the east by the Latins in ] 204 ? 
to which conquest the Venetians greatly contributed. 



231 



This prince must be under great subjection 
to the Turks, since he pays him, as I am told, 
a tribute of ten thousand ducats annually ; and 
this sum is only for Constantinople, for beyond 
that town he possesses nothing but a castle 
situated three leagues to the north, and in 
Greece a small city called Salubria. 

I was lodged with a catalonian merchant, 
who having told one of the officers of the 
palace that I was attached to my lord of 
Burgundy, the emperor caused me to be asked 
if it were true that the duke had taken the 
Pucelle d' Orleans, which the Greeks would 
scarcely believe. I told them truly how the 
matter had passed, at which they were greatly 
astonished *. 

* The Pucelle having bravely fought the English and 
the duke of Burgundy, leagued against France, had been 
made prisoner in 1430, by an officer of Jean de Luxembourg, 
the duke's general, and, being afterward sold by Jean to the 
English, was burnt by them the following year. This 
atrocious vengeance had resounded throughout Europe. At 
Constantinople, public rumour had attributed it to the duke ; 
hut the Greeks would not believe that a Christian prince could 



232 

The merchants informed me, that on 
Candlemas-day there would be a solemn 
service performed in the afternoon, similar 
to what we perform on that day, and they 
conducted me thither. The emperor was 
at one end of the hall, seated on a cushion. 
The empress saw the ceremony from a window 
in an upper apartment. The chaplains who 
chaunt the service are strangely ornamented 
and dressed : they sing the service by heart, 
6 selon leurs dois.' 

Some days after, they carried me to see a 
feast given on account of the marriage of one 
of the emperor's relations. There was a 
tournament after the manner of the country, 
but which appeared very strange to me. 

I will describe it. In the middle of a 
square, they had planted, like to a quintany, 
a large pole, to which was fastened a plank 
three feet wide, and five feet long. Forty 

have been capable of such an atrocity, which seemed to them, 
says our author/ as something impossible. 



233 



cavaliers advanced to this spot, without any 
arms or armour whatever but a short stick. 
They at first amused themselves by running 
after each other, which lasted for about half 
an hour, — then from sixty to fourscore rods 
of Alder were brought, of the thickness and 
length of those we use for thatching. The 
bridegroom first took one, and set off full 
gallop toward the plank, to break it: as it 
shook in his hand, he broke it with ease, 
when shouts of joy resounded, and the 
instruments of music, namely nacaires, like 
those of the Turks, began to play. Each 
of the other cavaliers broke their wands in 
the same manner. Then the bridegroom 
tied two of them together, which in truth 
were not too strong, and broke them without 
being wounded *. Thus ended the feast, and 

* La Brocquiere must have thought these justings 
ridiculous, from being accustomed to our tournaments, where 
the knights, cased in iron, fought with swords, lances and 
batde-axes, and when, very frequently, men were killed, 
wounded, or trodden under foot by the horses. This has 

H H 



234 

every one returned to his home safe and sound. 
The emperor and empress had been spectators 
of it from a window. 

My intentions were to leave Constantinople 
with this sir Benedict de Fourlino, who, as I 
have said, had been sent ambassador to the Turk 
by the duke of Milan. There was a gentleman 
named Jean Visconti, and seven other persons 
in his company, with ten led horses; for when 
a traveller passes through Greece, he must 
absolutely carry every necessary with him. 

I departed from Constantinople the 23d 
January 1433, and first came to the pass of 
Rigory, which was formerly tolerably strong : 
it is formed in a valley through which runs an 
arm of the sea, twenty miles long. There was 
a tower, but the Turks have destroyed it. In 
this place, there remain a bridge, a causeway and 
a greek village. In the way to Constantinople 
by land, there is but this pass, and another 

made him twice say, that in this justing with sticks n© QBG. 
Was wounded. 



235 



lower down, still more dangerous, on a river 
which there discharges itself into the sea. 

From Rigory I went to Thiras, inhabited 
also by Greeks : it has been a good town, and 
a pass as strong as the preceding one, from 
being formed in like manner by the sea. At 
each end of the bridge, there was a large tower; 
but tower and town, all have been destroyed 
by the Turks. 

I went from Thiras to Salubria. This 
town, two days journey from Constantinople, 
is situated on the gulph, that extends from 
this place as far as Gallipoli, and has a small 
harbour. The Turks could never take it, 
although it is not strong toward the sea. It 
belongs to the emperor, as well as the whole 
country hitherto ; but this country is completely 
ruined, and has but poor villages. 

Thence I came to Chorleu, formerly 
considerable, — destroved by the Turks, and 
now inhabited by them and Greeks. — Next to 
Chorleu is Misterio, a small inclosed' place., 



236 



inhabited only by Greeks, — with one single 
Turk, to whom his prince has given it. 

From Misterio we came to Pirgasy, where 
there are none but Turks. The walls have 
been thrown down. — Zambry is the next place 
to Pirgasy, and is equally destroyed. 

We next came to Adrianople, a large 
commercial town, very populous, and situated 
on a great river called the Mariza, six days 
journey from Constantinople. This is the 
strongest town possessed by the Turk in 
Greece, and here he chiefly resides. The 
lieutenant or governor of Greece lives here 
also ; and many merchants from Venice., 
Catalonia, Genoa and Florence are likewise 
residents. The country from Constantinople 
hither is good, and well watered, — but thinly 
peopled, having fertile vallies that produce 
every thing but wood. 

The Turk was at Lessere *, a large town 
in Pyrre, near to Pharsaha, where the decisive 

* Q. if not Larissa ( Seres) > in Phrygia, 



237 



battle was fought between Caesar and Pompey, 
and sir Benedict took the road thither to wait 
on him. We crossed the Mariza in a boat, and 
shortly after met fifty women of the Turk's 
seraglio, attended by about sixteen eunuchs, 
who told us they were escorting them to 
Adrianople, whither their master proposed 
soon following them. 

We came to Dymodique *, a good town, 
inclosed with a double wall. It is defended on 
one side by a river, and on the other by a large 
and strong castle, constructed on an elevation 
which is almost round, and which may contain 
within its extent three hundred houses. In the 
castle is a dungeon, wherein I was told the Turk 
keeps his treasure. 

From Demetica, we came to Ypsala <f : 
it has been a tolerable town, but is totally 
destroyed. I crossed the Mariza a second time. 
It is two days journey from Adrianople, and 

* Q. Demetica. 
t Q. Cypsela, 



238 



the country throughout was marshy, and 
difficult for the horses. 

Ayne*, beyond Ypsala, is on the sea-shore, 
and at the mouth of the Mariza, which at this 
place is full two miles wide. When Troy 
flourished, this was a powerful city, and had 
a king : at present, its lord is brother to the 
lord of Matelin, and tributary to the Turk. 

On a circular hillock is the tomb of 
Polydore, the youngest of the sons of Priam. 
The father had sent this son, during the siege 
of Troy, to the king of Eno with much 
treasure ; but, after the destruction of Troy, 
the king, as much through fear of the Greeks 
as the wish to possess this treasure, put the 
young prince to death. 

At Eno, I crossed the Mariza in a large 
vessel, and came to Macri, another maritime 
town to the westward of the first, and inhabited 
by Turks and Greeks. It is near to the island 
of Samandraf, which belongs to the lord 

* Eno. t Q. Samothraki. 



239 

of Eno, and seems to have been formerly 
considerable : at present, the whole of it is in 
ruins, excepting a part of the castle. 

Caumissin, whether we came next, after 
having traversed a mountain, has good walls, 
which make it sufficiently strong, although it 
is small It is situated on a brook, in a fine 
flat country, inclosed by mountains to the 
westward ; and this plain extends, for five or 
six days journey, to Lessere, 

Missy was equally strong, and well 
fortified ; but part of its walls are thrown 
down, and every thing within is destroyed : 
it is uninhabited. 

Peritoq, an ancient town, and formerly 
considerable, is seated on a gulph which runs 
inland about forty miles, beginning at Monte 
Santo, where are such numbers of monks. 
Greeks are the inhabitants, and it is defended 
by good walls, which have, however, many 
breaches in them. Thence to Lessere, the 
road leads over an extensive plain, it was 



240 



near Lessere, they say, that the grand battle 
of Pharsalia was fought. 

We did not proceed to this last town ; 
for hearing the Turk was on the road, we 
waited for him at Yamgbatsar, a village 
constructed by his subjects. When he travels, 
his escort consists of four or five hundred horse ; 
but as he is passionately fond of hawking, the 
greater part of this troop was composed of 
falconers and goshawk-trainers, a people that 
are great favourites with him ; and it is said, 
that he keeps more than two thousand of 
them. Having this passion, he travels very 
short days journies, which are to him more an 
object of amusement and pleasure. 

He entered Yamgbatsar in a shower of 
rain, having only fifty horsemen attending 
him and a dozen archers, his slaves, walking 
on foot before him. His dress was a robe of 
crimson velvet, lined with sable, and on his 
head he wore, like the Turks, a red hat : to 
save himself from the rain, he had thrown 



9AI 

over this robe another, in the manner of a 
mantle, after the fashion of the country. 

He was encamped in a pavilion which 
had been brought with him ; for lodgings are 
nowhere to be met with, nor any provision? 
except in the large towns, so that travellers 
are obliged to carry all things with them. 
He had numbers of camels and other beasts 
of burden. 

In the afternoon he came out of his 
pavilion to go to the bath, and I saw him at 
my ease. He was on horseback, with the 
same hat and crimson robe, attended by six 
persons on foot. I heard him speak to his 
attendants, and he seemed to have a deep 
toned voice. He is about twenty-eight or 
thirty years old, and is already very fat. 

The ambassador sent one of his attendants 
to ask him, if he could have an audience, and 
present him the gifts he had brought. He 
made answer, that being now occupied with 
his pleasures, he would not listen to any 

i i 



242 



matters of business ; that, besides, his bashaws 
were absent; that the ambassador must wait 
for them, or return to Adrianople. 

Sir Benedict accepted the latter proposal, 
and, consequently, we returned to Caumissin, 
whence having repassed the mountain I have 
spoken of, we entered a road formed between 
two high rocks, and through them flows a river. 
A strong castle, called Coloung, had been 
built on one of these rocks, for its defence, 
but it is now in ruins. The mountain is partly 
covered with wood, and is inhabited by a 
wicked race of assassins. 

At length we arrived at Trajanopoly, a 
town built by the emperor Trajan, who did 
many things worthy of record. He was the 
son of the founder of Adrianople; and the 
Saracens say, that he had an ear like to that of 
a sheep *. This town was very large, near to 

* Trajanopoly was not so called from having been 
built by Trajan, but because he died there. It existed before 
his time, and was named Selinunte* 



245 



the sea and the Mariza; but now nothing 
is seen but ruins, with a few inhabitants. 
A mountain rises to the east of it, and the sea 
lies on the south. One of its baths bears the 
name of Holy Water. 

Further on is Vyra, an ancient castle, 
demolished in many places. A Greek told 
me the church had three hundred canons 
attached to it. The choir is still remaining, 
but the Turks have converted it into a mosque. 
They have aho surrounded the castle with a 
considerable town, inhabited by them and 
Greeks. It is seated on a mountain, near the 
Mariza. 

On leaving Vyra, we met the lieutenant 
of Greece, whom the Turk had sent for, and 

Adrian was not the father of Trajan, but his adopted 
son, and, in this right, became his successor. 

Adrianople was not founded by Adrian. An 
earthquake had ruined it, and he ordered it to be rebuilt, and 
gave it his name. Such errors are excusable in an author of 
the fifteenth century. As for the sheep's ear, he speaks of it 
as a saracenic fable. 



2 4 4* 



he was on his road to him with a troop of 
one hundred and twenty horse. He is a 
handsome man, .a native of Bulgaria, and 
had been the slave of his master ; but as he 
has the talent of drinking hard, the prince 
gave him the government of Greece, with a 
revenue of fifty thousand ducats. 

Demetica, on my return, appeared much 
larger and handsomer than I thought it the 
first time ; and if it be true that the Turk has 
there deposited his treasure, he is certainly in 
the right to do so. 

We were forced to wait eleven days in 
Adrianopie. At length he arrived, on the 
first day of Lent. The mufti, who is with 
them what the pope is to us, went out to meet 
him, accompanied by the principal persons of 
the town, who formed a long procession. He 
was already near the town when they met him, 
but had halted to take some refreshment, and 
had sent forward part of his attendants. He did 
not make his entry until night-fall. 



245 



During my stay at Adrianople, I had 
the opportunity of making acquaintance with 
several persons who had resided at his court, 
and consequently knew him well, and who 
told me many particulars about him. In the 
first place, as I have seen him frequently, 
I shall say that he is a little, short, thick man, 
with the physiognomy of a Tartar. He has 
a broad and brown face, high cheek bones, 
a round beard, a great and crooked nose, 
with little eyes; but they say he is kind, good, 
generous, and willingly gives away lands and 
money. 

His revenues are two millions and a half 
of ducats, including twenty-five thousand 
received as tribute-money *. Besides, when 
he raises an army, it not only costs him 
nothing, but he gains by it; for the troops 

* There must be here an error of the copyist, for 
25,000 ducats as tribute is too small a sum. We shall see, 
further on, that the despot of Seryia paid annually 50,000 
for himself alone. 



that are brought him from Turkey in Europe, 
pay at Gallipoli. the comarch, which is three 
aspers for each man, and five for each horse. 
It is the same at the passage of the Danube. 
Whenever his soldiers go on an expedition, 
and make a capture of slaves, he has the 
right of choosing one out of every five. He 
is nevertheless thought not to love war, and 
this seems to me well founded. He has, in fact, 
hitherto met with such trifling resistance from 
Christendom that, were he to employ all his 
power and wealth on this object, it would be 
easy for him to conquer great part of it*. His 

* The sultan mentioned here under the name of 
Amourat Bey, is Amurath II. one of the most celebrated of 
the ottoman princes. History records many of his victories, 
which are indeed for the most part posterior to the account of 
our traveller. If he did not conquer more, it was owing to 
having Huniade or Scanderbeg opposed to him But his glory 
was eclipsed by that of his son, the famous Mohammed II. 
the terror of Christians, and' surnamed by his countrymen 
* the great,' who twenty years afcer this period, in 1453, 
took Constantinople, and destroyed what little remained of 
the greek empire. 



247 



favourite pleasures are hunting and hawking ; 
and he has, as they say, upwards of a thousand 
hounds, and two thousand trained hawks of 
different sorts, of which I have seen very 
many. 

He loves liquor, and those who drink 
hard : as for himself, he can easily quaff off 
from ten to twelve gondils of wine, which 
amount to six or seven quarts When he 
has drunk much, he becomes generous, and 
distributes his great gifts : his attendants, 
therefore, are very happy when they hear him 
call for wine. Last year, a Moor took it into 
his head to preach to him on this subject^ 
admonishing him that wine was forbidden by 
the prophet, and that those who drank it 
were not good Saracens. The only answer 
the prince gave was to order him to prison : 

* The quarte, so called from being the fourth part of 
die chenet, which contained four pots and one french pint. 
The pot held two pints, consequently the quarte made two 
bottles more than half a septier ; and twelve gondils made 
twenty-three bottles. 



248 



he then banished him his territories, with orders 
never again to set his foot on them. 

He unites, to his love for women, a taste 
for boys, and has three hundred of the former 
and about thirty of the latter, which he prefers, 
and when they are grown up he recompenses 
them with rich presents and lordships. One 
of them he married to a sister of his, with an 
annual income of 25,000 ducats. 

Some persons estimate his treasure at 
half a million of ducats, others at a million. 
This is exclusive of his plate, his slaves, the 
jewels for his women, which last article is 
estimated alone at a million of gold. I am 
convinced, that if he would for one year 
abstain from thus giving away blindly, and 
hold his hand, he would lay by a million of 
ducats without wronging any one. 

Every now and then he makes great and 
remarkable examples of justice, which procures 
him perfect obedience at home and abroad. 
He likewise knows how to keep his country 



249 



in an excellent state of defence, without 
oppressing his turkish subjects by taxes or 
other modes of extortion. 

His houshold is composed of five thousand 
persons, as well horse as foot; but in war-time 
he does not augment their pay, so that he does 
not expend more than in time of peace, contrary 
to what happens in other nations. 

His principal officers are three bashaws, 
or visir bashaws. The visir is a counsellor,— 
the bashaw a sort of chief, or lieutenant. These 
three have the charge of all that concerns 
himself or his houshold, and no one can speak 
with him but through them. When he is in 
Greece, the lieutenant of Greece has the 
superinteudance of the army, — and when in 
Turkey, the lieutenant of Turkey. 

He has given away great possessions, but 
he may resume them at pleasure. Besides, 
those to whom they have been given, are 
bound to serve him in war, with a certain 
number of troops, at their own expense. 

K K 



250 



It is thus that Greece annually supplies 
him with thirty thousand men, whom he may 
lead whither he pleases,— and Turkey ten 
thousand, for whom he only finds provisions. 
Should he want a more considerable army, 
Greece alone, as they tell me, can then furnish 
him with one hundred and twenty thousand 
more; but he is obliged to pay for these. The 
pay is five aspers for the infantry, and eight for 
the cavalry. 

I have, however, heard, that of these 
hundred and twenty thousand, there was but 
half, that is to say, the cavalry, that were 
properly equipped, and well armed with 
tarquais and sword : the rest were composed 
of men on foot miserably accoutred, — some 
having swords without bows, others without 
swords, bows, or any arms whatever, many 
having only staves. It is the same with the 
infantry supplied by Turkey, one half armed 
with staves. This turkish infantry is nevertheless 
more esteemed than the greek, and considered 
as better soldiers. 



251 



Other persons, whose testimony I regard 
as authentic, have since told me, that the troops 
Turkey is obliged to furnish, when the prince 
wants to form an army, amount to thirty 
thousand men, and those from Greece to twenty, 
without including two or three thousand slaves 
of his own, whom he arms well. 

Among these slaves are many Christians; 
and there are likewise numbers of them among 
the troops from Greece, Albanians, Bulgarians, 
and from other countries. In the last army 
from Greece, there were three thousand Servian 
horse, which the despot of the province had 
sent under the command of one of his sons. 
It was with great regret that these people came 
to serve him, but they dared not refuse. 

The bashaws arrived at Adrianople three 
days after their lord, bringing with them part 
of his people and his baggage. This baggage 
consists of about a hundred camels, and two 
hundred and fifty mules and sumpter horses, 
as the nation does not use waggons, 



252 



Sir Benedict was impatient to have an 
audience, and made inquiries of the bashaws 
if he could see the prince : their answer was a 
negative. The reason of this refusal was, that 
they had been drinking with him, and were 
all intoxicated. They, however, sent on the 
morrow to the ambassador to let him know 
they were visible, when he instantly waited on 
each with his presents ; for such is the custom 
of the country, that no one can speak to them 
without bringing something: even the slaves 
who guard their gates are not exempted from 
it. I accompanied him on this visit. 

On the following day, in the afternoon, 
he was informed that he might come to the 
palace. He instantly mounted his horse to go 
thither with his attendants, and I joined the 
company ; but we were all on foot, he alone 
being on horseback. 

In front of the court, we found a great 
number of men and horses. The gate was 
guarded by about thirty slaves, under the 



253 



command of a chief, armed with staves. 
Should any person offer to enter without 
permission, they bid him retire : if he persist, 
they drive him away with their staves. 

What we call the court of the king, the 
Turks call 6 porte du seigneur.' Every time 
the prince receives a message or an embassy, 
which happens almost daily, 6 il fait porte.' 
6 Faire porte,' is for him the same as when 
our kings of France hold royal state and 
open court, although there is much difference 
between the two ceremonies, as I shall presently 
show. 

When the ambassador had entered, they 
made him sit down near the gate, with many 
other persons who were waiting for the prince 
to quit his apartment and hold his court. The 
three bashaws first entered, with the governor 
of Greece and others of the great lords. His 
chamber looked into a very large court : the 
governor went thither to wait for him. — At 
length he appeared . His dress was, as usual, 



254 



a crimson satin robe, over which he had, by 
way of mantle, another of green figured satin, 
lined with sable. His young boys accompanied 
him, but no further than to the entrance of the 
apartment, when they returned. There was 
nobody with him but a small dwarf, and two 
young persons who acted the part of fools*. 

He walked across an angle of the court to 
a gallery, where a seat had been prepared for 
him. It was a kind of coach covered with 
velvet, with four or five steps to mount to it. 
He seated himself on it, like to our taylors 
when they are going to work, and the three 
bashaws took their places a little way from him. 
The other officers, who on these days make 
part of the attendants, likewise entered the 
gallery, and posted themselves along the walls 
as far from him as they could. Without, 

* Having fools was a very ancient custom at the 
eastern courts. It had been introduced by the croisaders to 
the courts of Christian princes, and was continued at that of 
France until die reign cf Louis XIV. 



but fronting him, were twenty wallachian 
gentlemen seated, who had been detained by 
him as hostages for the good conduct of their 
countrymen. Within this apartment were 
placed about a hundred dishes of tin, each 
containing a piece of mutton and rice. 

When all were placed, a lord from Bosnia 
was introduced, who pretended that the crown 
of that country belonged to him, and came in 
consequence to do homage for it to the Turk, 
and ask succour from him against the present 
king;. He was conducted to a seat near the 
bashaws; and when his attendants had made 
their appearance, the ambassador from Milan 
was sent for. 

He advanced, followed by his presents, 
which were set down near the tin dishes. 
Persons appointed to receive them raised them 
above their heads, as high as they could, that 
the prince and his court might see them. 
While this was passing, sir Benedict walked 



256 



slowly toward the gallery. A person of 
distinction came to introduce him. 

On entering, he made a reverence without 
taking off the bonnet from his head, and when 
near the steps of the couch he made another 
very low one. The prince then rose, descended 
two steps to come nearer to the ambassador, 
and took him by the hand. The ambassador 
wished to kiss his hand, but he refused it ; and 
by means of a jew interpreter, who understood 
the turkish and italian languages, asked how 
his good brother and neighbour the duke of 
Milan was in health. The ambassador having 
replied to this question, he was conducted to a 
seat near the Bosnian, but walking backwards, 
with his face toward the prince, according to 
the custom of the country. 

The prince waited to reseat himself, until 
the ambassador had sitten down : then the 
different officers on duty who w r ere in the 
apartment sat down on the floor, — and the 



257 



person who had introduced the ambassador 
went to seek for us his attendants, and placed 
us near the Bosnians. 

In the mean time, a silken napkin was 
attached to the prince, and a round piece 
of thin red leather was placed before him, for 
their usage is to eat only from table-coverings 
of leather, then some dressed meat was brought 
to him in two gilded dishes. When he was 
served, his officers went and took the tin 
dishes I have spoken of, and distributed them 
to the persons in the hall, one dish among 
four. There was in each a piece of mutton, 
and some clear rice, but neither bread nor any- 
thing to drink. 1 saw, however, in a corner 
of the court a high buffet with shelves, which 
had some little plate on them, and at the foot 
was a large silver vase, in the shape 6f a drinking 
cup, which I perceived many to drink out of, 
but whether water or wine 1 know not. 

With regard to the meat on the dishes, 
some tasted of it, others not; but before all 



^5S 



Were served, it was necessary to take away, for 
the prince had not been inclined to eat. He 
never takes any thing in public, and there are 
very few persons who can boast of having 
heard him speak, or of having seen him eat 
or drink. 

On his going away, the musicians, who 
were placed in the court near the buffet, began 
to play. They played on instruments, and 
sung songs that celebrated the heroic actions 
of turkish warriors. When those in the gallery 
heard anything that pleased them, they shouted, 
after their manner, most horrid cries. Being 
ignorant on what they were playing, I went 
into the court, and saw they were stringed 
instruments, and of a large size. 

The musicians entered the apartment, 
and eat whatever they could find. At length 
the meat was taken away when every one rose 
up, and the ambassador retired without having 
said a word respecting his embassy, which is 
jiever customary at a first audience* 



259 



There is also another custom, that when 
an ambassador has been presented to the prince, 
this latter, until he shall have given him his 
answer, sends him wherewith to pay his daily 
expenses, and the sum is two hundred aspers. 
On the morrow, therefore, one of the officers 
of the treasury, the same who had conducted 
sir Benedict to the court, came to him with 
the above sum. Shortly after, the slaves who 
guarded the gate came for what is usually 
given them : they are, however, satisfied with 
a little. 

On the third day, the bashaws let the 
ambassador know, they were ready to learn 
from him the subject of his embassy. He 
immediately went to the court, and I 
accompanied him ; but the prince had closed 
his audience, and was just retired, and only 
the three bashaws, with the Beguelar or 
governor of Greece were now remaining. 
When we had passed the gate, we found these 
four seated on a piece of wood that happened 



260 



to be withoutside of the gallery. They sent to 
desire the ambassador would come forward, 
and had a carpet placed on the ground 
before them, on which they made him seat 
himself, like to a criminal before his judge, 
notwithstanding there were present great 
numbers of people. 

He explained to them the object of his 
mission, which was, as I heard, to entreat their 
lord, on the part of the duke of Milan, to consent 
to yield up to the roman emperor Sigismond, 
Hungary, Wallachia, Bulgaria as far as Sophia, 
Bosnia, and the part of Albania he now possessed 
which was dependant on Sclavonia. They 
replied, they could not at that moment inform 
the prince of his request, as he was occupied ; 
but that within ten days he should have his 
answer, if they should then have received it 
from him. There is likewise another custom ; 
that from the time when an ambassador is 
announced as such, he can never speak with 
the prince personally. This regulation was 



<26l 



made since the grandfather of the present prince 
was murdered by an ambassador from Servia. 
That envoy had come to solicit from him some 
alleviation in favour of his countrymen, whom 
the prince wanted to reduce to slavery. In 
despair at not obtaining his object, he stabbed 
him, and was himself massacred the instant 
after *. 

* The grandfather of Amurath II. was Bajazet I. 
who died prisoner to Tamerlane, whether treated with kindness 
by the conqueror, as some authors pretend, or confined in an 
iron cage, according to others. This story of the Servian 
cannot therefore regard him. But we find in the life of 
Amuiath I. father to Bajazet, and, consequently, great 
grandfather to Amurath II. a circumstance that may have been 
the foundation for this story of the assassination. 

This prince had just gained a complete victory over the 
despot of Servia, in which he was made prisoner, and was 
passing over the Held of battle near to a Servian soldier, 
mortally wounded, who, knowing him, exerted his remaining 
strength and poinarded him. 

According to others, the despot, named Lazarus, or 
Eleazer Bukowitz, finding himself attacked by Amurath, with 
an irresistible army, and seeing no other chance of opposing 
him but by treason, gains over one of the great lords of his 
f ourt, who, feigning discontent, passes over to the party of 



262 



On the tenth day, we went to the court 
to receive the answer. The prince was there, 
as at the first time, seated on his couch ; but 
he had with him in the gallery only those that 
served his table. I saw neither buffet, minstrels, 
nor the lord of Bosnia, nor the Wallachians, 
but only Magnoly, brother to the duke of 
Cephalonia, whose manners to the prince were 
those of a respectful servant. Even the bashaws 
were without, and standing at a distance, as 
well as the greater part of the persons whom 
I had before seen in the interior, but their 
number was much lessened. 

the sultan, and assassinates him. (Du Cange Familis Bisant. 
p. 334.) 

According to another account, Amurath was slain 
in the combat ; and Lazarus, being made prisoner by the 
Turks, was hewed to pieces on the bleeding corpse of their 
master. 

It seems, from the recital of la Brocquiere, that the 
account of the assassination by the Servian, is the true one. 
This at ieast appears probable, from the precautions taken at 
the Ottoman Porte against foreign ambassadors ; for at this 
day, when they are introduced to the sultan, they are held by 
the sleeves of their coats. 



263 



During the time we were made to wait 
without, the chief cadi, with his assessors, 
administered justice at the outward gate of the 
palace, when I saw some foreign Christians 
come to plead their cause before him : but 
when the prince rose up, the judges ended 
their sittings and retired to their homes. 

I saw the prince pass with his attendants 
to the great court, which I was unable to do 
the first time. He wore a robe of cloth of gold 
and green, somewhat rich, and he seemed to me 
to have a hasty step. 

When he had re-entered his apartments, 
the bashaws, seated as on the preceding day on 
the piece of wood, sent for the ambassador. 
Their answer was, that their master charged 
him to salute, in his name, his brother the 
duke of Milan ; that he was very desirous of 
doing much for him, but that his present 
request was unreasonable ; that from regard 
to him their prince had frequently abstained 
.from pushing his conquests further in Hungary, 



which he might easily have done, and such a 
sacrifice, ought to satisfy him ; that it would 
he too hard for him to surrender all he had 
won by the sword ; and that in the present 
circumstances, he and his soldiers had no 
other theatre to occupy their courage besides 
the territories of the emperor, and that he 
should be the more unwilling to renounce 
them, because hitherto he had never met the 
emperor's forces without beating them, or 
putting them to flight, as was well known to 
all the world. 

The ambassador, in fact, knew this 
personally, for in the last defeat of Sigismond 
before Couloubath, he had witnessed his 
disaster : he had even, the night preceding the 
battle, quitted his camp, to wait on the Turk. 
In our conversations, he told me many 
particulars on this subject. I saw also two 
genoese cross-bowmen, who related to me 
how the emperor and his army had re-passed 
the Danube in his gallies. 



265 

The ambassador having: received his 
answer from the bashaws, returned to his 
lodgings; but he was scarcely arrived, when 
he received, on the part of the sultan, five 
thousand aspers, with a robe of crimson 
camocas lined with yellow calimanco. 

Thirty-six aspers are worth a Venetian 
ducat ; but of the five thousand aspers, the 
treasurer deducted ten per cent, as fees of 
office. 

I saw also, during my stav at Adrianople, 
a present of another sort, made likewise by the 
sultan to a bride on her wedding day. This 
bride was daughter to the Begler Bey, governor 
of Greece ; and the daughter of one of the 
bashaws, attended by upwards of thirty other 
women, had been charged to offer it. Her 
dress was of crimson tissue and gold : her 
face was covered, according to custom, with 
a very rich veil ornamented with diamonds. 
The attendant ladies had magnificent veils, 
and their dresses were robes of crimson velvet, 

M M 



$66 

and robes of cloth of gold without far. They 
were all on horseback, riding astride like men, 
and some of them had superb saddles. 

In front of the procession marched thirteen 
or fourteen horsemen, and two minstrels also on 
horseback, as well as other musicians carrying 
a trumpet, a very large drum, and about eight 
pairs of tymbals, which altogether made a most 
abominable noise. After the musicians came 
the present, and then the ladies. This present 
consisted of seventy broad platters of tin loaded 
with different sorts of sweetmeats, wet and dry 9 
and of twenty other platters having on them 
sheep skinned, painted red and white, and all 
had a silver ring suspended from the nose 9 
and two others in the ears. 

I had an opportunity of seeing, while at 
Adrianople, numbers of Christians chained 
who were brought thither for sale. Thev 
begged for alms in the street ; but my heart- 
bleeds when I think on the shocking hardships 
they suffer. 



261 



We left that town on the 12th of March, 
under the escort of a slave whom the sultan had 
ordered to accompany the ambassador. This 
man was of great utility to us on the road, 
more especially in regard to lodgings, — for 
wherever he demanded any thing for us, it was 
eagerly and instantly granted. 

Our first day's journey was through a 
beautiful country, ascending the Mariza, 
which we crossed at a ferry : the second, 
though the roads were good, was employed in 
passing through woods. At length, we entered 
Macedonia, between two mountains opening 
to an extensive plain, which may be forty miles 
wide, and is watered by the Mariza. 1 there 
met fifteen men and ten women chained by the 
neck, inhabitants of Bosnia, whom the Turks 
had just carried off in an excursion which they 
had made thither. Two Turks were leading 
them for sale to Adrianople. 

Shortly after, we arrived at Philopoppoli, 
the capital of Macedonia, and built by king 



£268 



Philip. It is situated in a plain on the Mariza, 
in an excellent country where all sorts of 
provision are sold very cheap. It was formerly 
a considerable town, and indeed is so now. 
Within it are three mountains, two of which 
are at one of its extremities toward the 
southward, and the other in the centre. Oa 
this last had been constructed a large castle, 
in the form of a crescent, now destroyed. 
I was shown the situation of king Philip's 
palace, which has been demolished, but the 
walls still remain. Philipoppoli is inhabited 
chiefly by Bulgarians, who follow the greek 
ritual. 

I crossed the Mariza by a bridge, on 
leaving Philipoppoli, and rode a whole day 
over the plain I mentioned : it terminates at a 
mountain sixteen or twenty miles in length, 
covered with wood. This place was in former 
times infested by robbers, and very dangerous 
to pass. 1 he Turk has ordered, that whoever 
i nhabits these parts shall be free : in consequence,, 



269 



two villages have been erected and inhabited by 
Bulgarians, in one of which, situated on the 
confines of Bulgaria and Macedonia, I passed 
the night. 

Having crossed the mountain, we came to 
a piain six miles long by two broad, — then to 
a forest sixteen miles m length, — then to another 
great plain wholly shut in by mountains, well 
peopled with Bulgarians, and having a river 
running through it. 

After three days journey, I came at last to 
a town named Sophia, which had been very 
considerable, as may be judged from the 
ruins of its walls, now thrown down; but 
it is at present the best in Bulgaria. It has 
a small castle, and is situated near a mountain 
on the southward, and at the beginning of a 
great plain sixty miles long by ten wide. The 
inhabitants are chiefly Bulgarians, as in the 
adjacent villages. The Turks are few in 
number, which causes the others to feel the 



270 



greatest desire to throw off their yoke, if they 
could find any to assist them. 

I saw some Turks return from an excursion 
to Hungary, — and a Genoese, named Nicolas 
Ciba, told me he had also seen those who had 
crossed the Danube return, and that there was 
not one in ten that had both bow and sword : 
for my part, of those I saw, there were many 
more that had neither bow nor sword than 
those who were armed with both. The best 
equipped had a small wooden target. In 
truth, we must confess that it is a great 
shame for Christendom to suffer itself to be 
subjugated by such a race, for they are much 
below what is thought of them. 

On quitting Sophia, I traversed fifty miles 
of the plain I spoke of. The country is well 
inhabited by Bulgarians of the greek religion. 
I then passed through a mountainous country, 
tolerabl good for travelling on horseback, and 
came to a little town in a plain on the Nissave., 



271 



called Pirotte. It is uninclosed, but has a small 
castle, defended on one side by the river, on the 
other by a marsh: to the north is a mountain. 
It is inhabited by Turks only. 

Beyond Pirotte, the country is again 
mountainous, when, after a circuit, we came 
again to the Nissave, which runs through a 
beautiful valley between two tolerably high 
hills. At the foot of one of them was the 
town of Ysvouriere, now totally destroyed, 
even to the walls. We followed the banks of 
the river through the valley, and came to 
another mountain, difficult to pass, although 
cars and carts do go over it. We then arrived 
at an agreeable valley, still watered by the 
Nissave, which having crossed by a bridge, 
we entered Nissa. 

This town had a handsome castle that 
belonged to the despot of Servia. The Turk 
took it, five years ago, by storm, and entirely 
destroyed it. The situation is in a delightful 
country, abounding in rice. I continued to 



212 



follow the river from Nissa, through a country 
equally pleasant, and well filled with villages. 
1 at last crossed it at a ferry, and saw it no 
more. The mountains now commenced, and 
I had a long miry forest to pass, and, after ten 
days journey from Adrianople, arrived at 
Corsebech *, a small town situated a mile 
distant from the Morava. 

The Morava is a large river that runs 
from Bosnia, and divides Bulgaria from la 
Rascia or Servia, a province which indifferently 
bears these two names, and which the Turk 
conquered six years ago. Corsebech had a 
small castle, now demolished : it has still a 
double wall, but the upper parts, as far as the 
battlements, have been thrown down. 

I found there Cenasnin Bey, captain or 
commandant of this vast frontier country,, 
that extends from Wallachia as far as Sclavonia. 
He resides part of the year in this town ; and 

* Q. Kruzcevaz, or Alagia Hisar. 



273 



they told me he was originally a Greek, who did 
not drink wine like other Turks ; that he was 
prudent and brave, and knew how to make 
himself feared and obeyed. The Turk has 
intrusted him with the government of this 
country, of which he possesses the greater part 
as his own property. He suffers no one to 
cross the river, unless they be known ro him, 
or unless they be bearers of letters from his 
master, or, in his absence, from the governor 
of Greece, 

We saw there a beautiful woman, one of 
the hungarian nobility, whose situation inspired 
us with pity. An hungarian renegado, one of 
the lowest rank, had carried her off in an 
excursion, and treated her as his wife. On 
seeing us, she melted into tears, for she had 
not as yet renounced her religion. 

On leaving Corsebech, we crossed the 
Morava by a ferry, and entered the territory of 
the despot of Servia, a fine and well-peopled 
country. All on this side the river belongs to 

N N 



274 

him, — the district on the other to the Turk; 
but the despot pays him an annual tribute of 
fifty thousand ducats. He possesses also, on 
this river, toward the common boundaries of 
Bulgaria, Sclavonia, Albania and Bosnia, a 
town called Nyeuberge, which has a mine 
producing gold and silver at the same time. 
Each year it pays him more than two hundred 
thousand ducats, as well informed people 
assured me : without this, he would be soon 
driven out of his dominions. 

I passed on my road near to the castle of 
Escalache, that belongs to him. It has been a 
strong place, on the point of a hill, at the foot 
of which the Nissave forms a junction with 
the Morava. Part of the walls, with a tower 
in the form of a dungeon, arc all that remain. 

At the mouth of these two rivers, the 
Turk usually keeps from eighty to a hundred 
gallies, galliots and rafts, to convey over his 
cavalry and army in time of war. I could not 
see them, as no Christian is allowed to approach 



275 

them ; but a man, worthy of belief, informed 
me there was a body of three hundred men 
always posted there to guard them, and that 
they are relieved every two months. 

The distance from Escalache to the 
Danube is one hundred miles : nevertheless, 
in all this distance, there does not subsist any 
fort, or place of defence, but a village, and a 
house erected by Cenasnin-Bey on the declivity 
of a mountain, with a mosque. 

I followed the course of the Morava, and 
with the exception of a very miry pass, that 
continues about a mile, caused by a mountain 
pressing too close on the river, I had a good 
road through a pleasant well-peopled country. 
It was not the same the second day, for I had 
mountains, wood, and much mud to travel 
through. The country, notwithstanding, was 
as fine as a mountainous country can be. It is 
full of villages, and all your wants may be 
there supplied, 



From the time we had entered Macedonia^ 
Bulgaria and Servia, I found on our passage 
that the Turk every where caused proclamation 
to be made, that whoever was bound to join 
the army should hold himself in readiness to 
march. They told us, that those who, in 
obedience to this duty, fed a horse, were 
exempted from the tax of the comarch ; that 
such Christians as were desirous of being 
excused from serving pay fifty aspers a-head ; 
and that some are forced to join the army, but 
only when it requires reinforcements. 

I learnt also at the court of the despot, 
that the Turk has divided the guard and 
defence of these frontier provinces among 
three captains; one, called Dysem Bey, has 
the district from the confines of Wallachia to 
the Black Sea; Cenasnin-Bey commands from 
Wallachia to the borders of Bosnia ; and Isaac 
Bey from these frontiers as far as Sclavonia s 
that is to say, all beyond the Morava. 



277 



To continue the account of my journey, 
1 shall say, that I came to a town, or rather a 
country-house, called Nicodem. It is here 
the despot has fixed his residence because the 
soil is good, and there are woods and rivers 
abounding with every thing needful for the 
pleasures of the chace and hawking, of which 
he is very fond. 

He was out hawking by the river side, 
attended by fifty horse, three of his children, 
and a Turk, who had been sent by the sultan 
to summon him to send his contingent to the 
army, under the escort of one of his sons. 
Independently of his tribute, this is one of the 
conditions imposed upon him. Every time 
the sultan sends him his orders, he is obliged 
to furnish him with eight hundred or a thousand 
horse, under the command of his second son. 

He gave the sultan one of his daughters 
in marriage : nevertheless, there passes not a 
day that he does not fear being deprived of his 
dominions. I have even heard say, that some 



£278 



wished to inspire the sultan with this idea, but 
that he had answered, ' I draw more from 
them now than if they were my own ; for in 
this case I should be obliged to give them to 
one of my slaves, and should not receive any 
thing.' 

The troops he is now raising are said to 
be intended against Albania. Ten thousand 
have already marched thither, which was the 
reason he had so few with him when I saw 
him at Lessere ; but this first army had been 
destroyed *. 

The prince of Servia is a tall, handsome 
man, from fifty-eight to sixty years old : he 
has five children, three boys and two girls. 
Of the boys, one is twenty years, another 
sixteen, and the third fourteen ; and all 

* It was in fact this same year, 1433, that the 
renowned Scanderbeg having, by a trick, regained possession 
of Albania, of which his ancestors were die sovereigns, 
commenced that sagacious war against Amuratb, which 
covered him with glory, and tarnished the last years of the 
sultan. 



279 



three, like their father, have very agreeable 
countenances. In respect to the girls, one is 
married to the sultan, another to the count dc 
Seil ; but as I have not seen them, I cannot 
describe them * 

When we met him hawking, the ambassador 
and myself took him by the hand, which I 
kissed, for such is the custom. On the 
morrow, we went to pay him our respects. 
He had a tolerably numerous court, composed 
of very handsome men, who wore the beard 
and hair long, as they are of the greek church. 
There were in the town a bishop and a doctor 
in theology, on their road to Constantinople, 
sent as ambassadors to the emperor, by the holy 
council of Basil -f. 

* This prince was named George Brancovitz of 
Wkovitz. Some account of him and his family is to be 
found in du Cange. (Familiae Bisant. page 336.) 

t This holy council concluded its sittings by citing to 
its tribunal, and deposing the pope, whilst the pope commanded 
it to dissolve itself, and convoked another at Ferrara. At 
Florence, he had undertaken to form an union of the greek and 



280 



I had employed two days in going from 
Corsebech to Nicodem, and from Nicodem to 
Belgrade half a day. There is nothing but 
forests, mountains and valleys to this town; 
but the vallies are crowded with villages, in 
which provision and good wines are met with. 

Belgrade is in Servia, and did belong to 
the despot; but, four years ago, he ceded it to 
the king of Hungary, for fear lest he should 
suffer it to be taken by the Turk, as he had 
done Coulumbach. This w r as a heavy loss to 
Christendom. The other would be still greater, 
because the place is stronger, and can contain 
from five to six thousand horse *. Its walls 

latin churches, and with this design had sent the ambassadors 
to the emperor. He came actually to Italy, and signed at 
Florence that political and simulated union before mentioned. 

* My readers may perhaps be surprised that our 
author, when he speaks of the garrison of any strong place, 
particularizes only cavalry ; and that, when he mentions the 
contingent sent by the despot to the turkish army, he specifies 
but horse. The reason is, that when he wrote, Europe 
paid no attention but to cavalry ; and the infantry, badly 
armed, formed and equipped, was not considered of any 
consequence. 



281 

"are washed on one side by a large river that 
comes from Bosnia, called the Save ; and on 
the other it has a castle, near to which runs 
the Danube, and into this the Save flows. 
The town is built on the point formed by 
these two rivers. 

Within its walls the ground rises; but on , 
the land side, it is so flat that any one may 
march into the ditch. There is, however, a 
village on this side that extends from the Save 
to the Danube, and surrounds the town to the 
distance of a bow-shot. This village is inhabited 
by Servians, and on Easter-day I heard mass 
there in the Sclavonic tongue. It is under 
obedience to the church of Rome, and its 
ceremonies are nothing different from ours. 

The place is strong from its situation, and 
by art, having ditches en glacis, a double wall, 
well kept in repair, that follows exactly the rise 
and fall of the ground. It has also five forts, 
three on the elevated ground I spoke of, and 
two on the river, but these last are commanded 

Q O 



282 



by the preceding ones. It has likewise a Small 
harbour that may hold from fifteen to twenty 
gallies, defended by towers constructed at each 
extremity. It is shut up by a chain from one 
tower to the other : at least, so it was told me, 
for the two shores are so distant I could not 
see it. 

I saw on the Save six sallies and five 
galliots, near to the weakest of the five forts. 
In this are many Servians, but they are not 
permitted to enter the other forts. The 
whole five are well furnished with artillery. 
I particularly noticed three cannons of brass : 
two of them were formed of two pieces, and 
one of such a size, I never before saw the like*. 
Its mouth was forty-two inches in diameter, 
but it seemed short for its thickness +. 

* From our author thus noticing the brass cannon, ir 
should seem they were still rare in his time, and looked on as 
wonders. Louis XI. had a dozen cast, and gave them the 
names of the twelve peers of France. 

f It was then the fashion to make pieces of artillery 
©f an enormous size. Mohammed II. at the siege of 



283 



The commandant of the place was sir 
Mathico, an arragonian knight, and he had 
for his lieutenant his own brother, styled my 
lord brother. 

The Turk is in possession of the castle of 
Coulumbach, on the Danube, two days journey 
below Belgrade. He seized it from the despot, 
and it is, as they say, a strong place, but easily 
attacked with artillery ; and all succour may be 
cut off from it, which is a great disadvantage. 
He there keeps a hundred light gallics, having 
sixteen or eighteen oars on a side to pass over 
to Hungary at his pleasure. The governor of 
this place is Cenasnin-Bey, before spoken of. 

Constantinople, employed cannon cast on the spot that threWj 
as they say, balls of two hundred weight. 

Monstrelet speaks of a gun that Louis XI. had cast at 
Tours, and carried afterward to Paris, that flung balls of five 
hundred pounds. 

In 1717, prince Eugene, after his victory over the 
Turks, found in Belgrade a cannon twenty-five feet long, that 
shot balls of one hundred and ten pounds, whose charge was 
fifty-two pounds of powder. It was also then customary to 
make the balls of marble or stone, worked to fit the mouths, 
of different cannons. 



On the Danube, but in Hungary, and 
opposite to Belgrade, the despot has a town 
and castle that were given him by the emperor*, 
with several others, that afford him an income 
of fifty thousand ducats, on condition of his 
becoming his liege man, but he obeys the 
Turk more than the emperor. 

Two days after my arrival at Belgrade,, 
I saw twenty-five men, armed after the manner 
of the country, enter the town, whom count 
Mathico the governor had sent for to remain 
in garrison. They told me they were 
Germans, although they had Servians and 
Hungarians so near at hand ; but they said, 
the Servians were subjects and tributaries to 
the Turk: of course, they could not trust 
them, — and as for the Hungarians, they were 
so much afraid of him, that should he appear, 
they would not dare to defend it, however great 
its strength. They were obliged, therefore, to 

* Sigismond king of Bohemia and Hungary. It isr 
pretended that Sigismond gave them in exchange for Belgrade, 



285 



call in strangers; and this measure became the 
more necessary from its being the only place 
in the possession of the emperor to enable him 
to pass and repass the Danube, in case of need. 

This conversation greatly astonished me, 
and caused me to make some reflections on 
the strange subjection in which the Turk 
keeps Macedonia, Bulgaria, the emperor of 
Constantinople, the Greeks, the despot of 
Servia and his subjects. Such a dependance 
appeared to me a lamentable thing for 
Christendom ; and, as I lived with the Turks, 
and became acquainted with their manner of 
living and fighting, and have frequented the 
company of sensible persons who have observed 
them narrowly in their great enterprizes, I am 
emboldened to write something concerning 
them, according to the best of my abilities, 
ynder correction, however, from those better 
informed, and to show how it may be possible 
to re-conquer the territories they have gained 



2S6 

possession of, and to beat them in the field of 
tattle. 

I shall begin with what regards their 
persons, and say, they are a tolerably handsome 
race, with long beards, but of moderate size 
and strength. I know well that it is a 
common expression to say, as strong as a 
Turk, — nevertheless I have seen an infinity of 
Christians, when strength was necessary, excel 
them ; and I myself, who am not of the strongest 
make, have, when circumstances required 
labour, found very many weaker than me. 

They are diligent, willingly rise early, and 
live on little, being satisfied with bread badly 
baked, raw flesh dried in the sun, milk curdled 
or not, honey, cheese, grapes, fruit, herbs, and 
even a handful of flour, with which they make 
a potage sufficient to feed six or eight for a day. 
Should they have a horse or camel sick without 
hopes of recovery, they cut its throat and eat it. 
I have witnessed this many and many a time. 



HS1 



They are indifferent where they sleep, and lie 
on the ground. 

Their dress consists of two or three robes 
of cotton, thrown one over the other, which 
fall to their feet. Over these again they wear 
another of felt, in the manner of a mantle, 
called a Capinat. This, though light, resists 
rain, and there are some very fine and 
handsome. Their boots come up to the 
knees, and they have large drawers, some of 
crimson velvet, others of silk or fustian and 
common stuffs. In war, or when travelling, 
to avoid being embarrassed by their robes, 
they tuck the ends into their drawers, by 
which they can move with greater freedom. 

Their horses are good, cost little in food, 
gallop well and for a long time. They keep 
them very poor, never feeding them but at 
night, and then only giving them five or six 
handfuls of barley and double the quantity of 
chopped straw, — the whole put into a bag 
which hangs from their ears. At break of 



288 

day, they bridle, clean and curry them, but 
never allow them to drink before mid day, — > 
then in the afternoon every time that they find 
water, and in the evening when they lodge or 
encamp; for they always halt early, and near a 
river if possible. This last time they leave them 
bridled for an hour like mules, and then, at a 
fixed moment, each gives his horse provender. 

During the night-time, they cover them 
with felt or other stuffs, and I have seen such 
Coverings very handsome : they have the like 
also for their hounds, in which they are curious* 
and have a good breed ; although with long 
hanging ears and tufted tails, which, however., 
they carry well. 

All their horses are geldings : they keep 
some others for stallions, but so few, that I 
have never seen a single one. They saddle 
and bridle them ' a la genette.' Their saddles 
are commonly very rich, but hollow, having 
pummels before and behind, with short stirrup 
leathers and wide stirrups. 



'289 



With regard to their accoutrements and 
dresses for war, I had twice an opportunity of 
seeing them, on the occasions of greek 
renegadocs, who, renouncing their own, had 
embraced the mohammedan religion. The 
Turks celebrate these events with much 
festivity. They dress themselves in their best 
arms, and traverse the town with as numerous 
a procession as possible. On these occasions 
I have seen them wear very handsome coats of 
armour like to ours, except that the links of 
the mail were smaller : the vambraces were the 
same. In one word, they resemble those 
pictures that represent figures of the time of 
Julius Cassar. Their armour descends almost 
half way down the thigh ; but a piece of 
silken stuff m attached circularly to the bottom 
of it, that falls down to the calf of the leg. 

On their head thev wear a round white 
cap, half a foot high, terminated in a point, 
It is ornamented with plates of iron on all 
sides, to ward off from the face, neck and 

p p 



$90 

cheeks, blows of the sword, and are like the 
helmets in France, called Salades*. Beside 
this head-piece, they usually wear another 
over it, namely a bonnet of iron wire. There 
are some of these so rich and handsome that 
they cost from forty to fifty ducats, whereas 
the first are bought for one or two : although 
not so strong as the others, they resist the cut 
of a sword. 

I have spoken of their saddles, in which 
they sit, as in an arm chair, deep sunk in them, 
their knees very high, and with short stirrups, 
a position in which they cannot support the 
smallest blow from a lance without being 
unhorsed* 

The arms of those who have any fortune 
are a bow, a tarquais, a sword, a heavy mace 
with a short handle, the thick end of which is 
cut into many angles. This is a dangerous 

* A sort of light casque then in use, which, not having 
vizor nor throat piece, had need of projecting plates of iron t* 
smard the face. 





291 



weapon, when struck on the shoulders, or 
on an unguarded arm. I am convinced that 

o 

a blow given with it on a head armed with 
a salade would stun a man. 

Several have small wooden bucklers, with 
which they cover themselves well on horseback 
when they draw the bow. I have been assured 
of this by those who have long used them, as 
well as from having seen it myself. 

Their obedience to superiors is boundless. 
None dare disobey, even when their lives are at 
hazard ; and it is chiefly owing to this steady 
submission that such great exploits have been 
performed, and such vast conquests gained, as 
render them masters of a more extensive and 
considerable country than all France. 

I have been assured, that whenever the 
Christian powers have taken up arms against 
them, they have always had timely information 
of it. In this case, the sultan has their march 
watched by men assigned to this purpose, and 
Jie lays wait for them with his army two or 



292 



three days march from the spot where he 
proposes to light them. Should he think the 
opportunity favourable, he fails suddenly on 
them ; and for these occasions they have a 
particular kind of march, beaten on a large 
drum. Whtn this signal is given, those who 
are to lead march quietly off, followed by the 
others with the same silence, without the file 
ever being interrupted, from the horses and 
men being trained to this purpose. Ten 
thousand Turks, on such an occasion, will 
make less noise than one hundred men in the 
Christian armies. In their ordinary marches, 
they only walk, but in these they always gallop g 
and as they are beside lightly armed, they will 
thus advance further from evening to day-break 
than in three other days, — and this is the reason 
why they cannot wear such complete armour 
as the French and Italians. They choose also 
no horses but such as walk fast, and gallop 
for a long time, while we select only those 
that trot well and with ease. 



295 



it is by these forced marches that they 
have succeeded in surprising and completely 
defeating the Christians in their different 
wars. It is thus they conquered duke John, 
whose soul may God pardon * ! and again 
the emperor Sigismond so recently before 
■Coulumbach, where sir Advis, a polish knight, 
perished. 

Their manner of fighting varies according 
to circumstances. When they find a favourable 
opportunity for it, they divide themselves into 

* John count of Nevers, sirnamed sans peur, and son 
to Philippe le hardi, duke of Burgundy. Sigismond having 
formed a league, to chec k the conquests of Bajazet, Charles VI. 
sent him a body of troops, in which were two thousand 
gentlemen, under the command of the count of Nevers. 
The Christian army was defeated at Nicopolis in 1396, and 
the French slain or made prisoners. See further particulars in 
the fourth volume of Froissart, 

When Jean succeeded his father, as duke of Burgundy, 
he caused the duke of Orleans, brother to the king of France, 
to be cowardly assassinated. He was murdered in his turn 
by Tannegui du Chatel, an ancient servant of the duke of 
Orleans. These facts prove that la Brocquiere was in the 
right, when speaking of John to pray mat God wouid pardon 
him. 



mi 

different troops, and thus attack many parts of 
an army at once. This mode is particularly 
used when they are among woods or mountains, 
from the great facility they have of uniting 
together again. 

At other times they form ambuscades, 
and send out scouts well mounted to observe 
the enemy : if their report be, that he is not 
on his guard, they instantly form their plan, 
and take advantage of the circumstance. 
Should they find the army well drawn up, 
they curvet round it within bow-shot, and 
while thus prancing shoot at the men and 
horses, and continue this manoeuvre so long- 
that they at last throw it into disorder. If 
the army attempt to pursue them, they fly, 
and disperse each separately, even should only 
a fourth part of their own number be ordered 
against them ; but it is in their flight that they 
are rormidable, and it has been almost always 
then that they have defeated the Christians, 
In flying, they have the adroitness to shoot 



29l> 



their arrows so very true that they scarcely 
ever fail to hit man or horse. 

Each cavalier has also on the pummel of 
his saddle a tabolcan. When the chief, or any 
of his officers, perceives the enemy who pursues 
to be in disorder, he gives three strokes on this 
instrument : the others, on hearing it, do the 
same, and they are instantly formed round 
their chief, like so many hogs round the old 
one,— and then, according to circumstances, 
they either receive the charge of the assailants, 
or fall on them by troops, and attack them in 
different places at the same time. 

In pitched battles, they employ another 
stratagem, which consists in throwing fire- works 
among the cavalry to frighten the horses : they 
often post in their front a great body of 
dromedaries and camels, which are bold and 
vicious : these they drive before them on the 
enemy's line of horse, and throw it into 
confusion. 



Such are the modes of fighting the Turks 
have hitherto adopted against the Christians* 
I would not most assuredly wrong or depreciate 
them ; for I must own that I have always 
found them, in my different connections, frank 
and loyal, and when it was necessary to shew 
courage, they have never failed to do so : but 
I am not the less convinced, that it would be 
no difficult matter, for troops well mounted 
and well commanded, to defeat them ; and, 
in regard to myself, I declare, that with one 
half of their numbers I should never hesitate 
to attack them. 

Their armies, I know, commonly consist 
of two hundred thousand men; but the greater 
part are on foot, and destitute, as I before said 9 
of tarquais, helmets, mallets or sword, — few 
indeed being completely armed. 

They have besides among them a great 
number of Christians, who serve through force-, 
Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Albanians* 



291 



Sclavonians, Wallachians, Servians, and other 
subjects of the despots of that country. 

All these people detest the Turk, because 
he holds them in a severe captivity ; and should 
they see the Christians march in force against 
him, and above all the French, I have not the 
smallest doubt but they would turn against him 
and do him great mischief. 

The Turks are not, therefore, so terribly 
formidable as I have heard say. I own, 
however, that it will be necessary, if any 
attempt be made against them, to have a 
general well obeyed by his troops, and who 
would particularly listen to the advice of those 
acquainted with their mode of warfare. This 
was the fault, as I am informed, of the emperor 
Sigismond, when he was defeated by them at 
Coulumbach. Had he attended to the advice 
given him* he would not have been forced to 
raise the siege, since he had from twenty-five 
to thirty thousand Hungarians. Did not two 
hundred genoese and iombardy cross-bows 

Q Q 



29$ 



alone check the enemy, overawe them/ and 
cover his retreat, while he embarked on board 
the gallies that he had on the Danube, — while 
six thousand Wallachians, under the polish 
knight before mentioned, having separated 
and posted themselves on a small eminence., 
were all cut to pieces. 

I speak nothing here but what I have seen 
myself, or heard from undoubted authority : 
therefore, in case any Christian prince or 
general may wish to attempt the conquest of 
Turkey in Europe, or even to penetrate 
further, I think I am able to give much 
Information on this subject. I shall, however, 
speak according to my abilities ; and should 
any thing escape me that may be displeasing 
to some of my readers, I beg they will excuse 
it, and pass it by, as if I had said nothing. 

The monarch who should form such a 
project ought at first to propose to himself for 
his object, not glory and renown, but God, 
religion, and the salvation of so many souls 



l 299 



that are in the road to perdition. He must 
be well assured beforehand that the regular 
payment of his troops is provided for, — and 
that he carries with him none but such as have 
a fair reputation, with a good will for the 
purpose, — and, above all, that they be not 
pillagers. With regard to the payment of 
them, I think it should depend on the holy 
father to see that it be regularly made ; but 
until the moment when the army enters the 
turkish territory, there should be made a strict 
law, that no one take any thing without paying 
for it. No person likes to see his property 
stolen; and I have heard, that those who have 
been guilty of such things have not found 
themselves the better for it. I, however, refer 
these things to the prince and the lords of his 
council : I shall confine myself to speak of 
the sort of troops I think proper for such an 
attempt, and whom, if 1 had the choice, 
J should like to accompany. 



300 



I would, in the first place, select front 
France men at arms, archers and cross-bows, 
in as great numbers as possible, and of 
the sort mentioned above. Secondly, from 
England, a thousand men at arms and ten 
thousand archers. Thirdly, from Germany, 
the greatest number possible of gentlemen, 
with their croos-bowmen on horse and foot. 
Collect together from fifteen to twenty thousand 
archers and cross-bows of these three nations, 
adding thereto from two to three hundred light 
troops ; and I will ask from God the grace to 
march with them, and engage they shall 
advance without difficuky from Belgrade to 
Constantinople. 

They will require but light armour, as 
I have before observed that the turkish bow 
has no great strength. When near, their 
archers shoot true and quick; but they do not 
shoot nearly so far as we do. Their bows are 
thick and short, and their arrows thin and of 



301 



no length : their iron heads are stuck into the 
wood, which cannot bear a great blow nor 
make a deep wound, even on an unarmed 
place. From this it will be seen, slight armour 
only is wanted for the troops, — that is to say, 
light greves for the legs and thighs, thin plate 
armour for the body, with helmets having wide 
vizor -pieces. A turkish arrow would perhaps 
pierce a light coat of mail, but would be turned 
aside by plate -armour., however thin. 

I shall add, that in case of necessity our 
archers can make use of the arrows of the 
Turks, but that they cannot do the same with 
ours, because the notch is not sufficiently wide, 
and the strings of their bows, being made of 
sinews, are too thick. 

According to my opinion, our cavalry 
should be armed with light sharp-headed 
lances, and with strong well-tempered swords. 
It may be also advantageous to have small 
battle-axes on the wrist. The infantry should 
|iave double-headed battle-axes, and a long and 



302 



sharp spear, both having their hands defended 
with gauntlets. With regard to this last article, 
I own I have seen some in Germany made of 
boiled leather, that I consider as effectual as 
those of iron. 

When the army shall come to an open 
plain, where a combat may be fought with 
advantage, it should be done, but then the 
whole should be formed into one body : the 
van and rear guards should be employed on 
the wings. The pikemen to be intermixed in 
the line, unless it should be preferred to post 
them otherwise to skirmish; but the general 
wili be careful not thus to post the men at 
arms. In front of the line, and on the wrings, 
the light troops will be scattered ; and every 
one must be strictly forbidden, under pain of 
death, to pursue the runaways. 

It is the policy of the Turks to have 
their armies twice as numerous as those of 
tl e Christians. This superiority of numbers 
augments their courage, and allows them to 



303 



form different corps, and to make their attack 
on various parts at the same time. Should 
they once force an opening, they rush through 
in incredible crowds, and it is then a miracle 
if all be not lost. 

To prevent this misfortune, the light 
troops should be numerously posted on the 
angles of the line of battle, and, by this means, 
keep it compact, so as not to suffer it to be 
broken. This manoeuvre seems to me the 
more easily to be executed, from these light 
troops not being sufficiently armed to form a 
column, capable, by its weight, of any great 
impulsion. The turkish lances are worth 
nothing : their archers are the best troops they 
have, and these do not shoot so strong nor so 
far as ours do. 

They have a more numerous cavalry ; 
and their horses, though inferior in strength 
to ours, and incapable of bearing such heavy 
weights, gallop better, and skirmish for a 
longer time without losing their wind, This 



S > 



is an additional reason for the army always 
keeping in a close and good order. 

When this method is constantly followed , 
they will be forced to combat disadvantageous^, 
and, consequently, to risk every thing, or retreat 
before the army. Should this last be the case, 
the cavalry must be sent in pursuit, but it must 
always march in good order, and be ever ready 
to fight, and receive them well, should they 
turn about. With such conduct, it is noway 
doubtful but they must alway be defeated ; 
and if a contrary one be followed, they will 
beat us, as has ever happened. 

I may, perhaps, be told, that it would be 
disgraceful thus to remain on the defensive 
when in presence of the enemy; and that, 
living as they do on little, they would starve 
us, unless we quitted our intrenchment to fight 
with them. 

I shall answer, that it is not customary for 
them to remain long in one place; that to-day 
they are at this place, to morrow a day and a 



t 



305 

half's march oft : they re-appear again ar> 
suddenly as they disappeared ; and that if an 
army be not continually on its guard, it will 
run great risks. The important point is, to 
be ever on the watch from the moment they 
appear in sight, and ready to mount for the 
combat. 

Should there be any difficult passage on 
the line of march, as manv men at arms and 
archers must be sent thither as the situation 
will allow for a combat, and they must be 
continually in order of battle until the whole 
be passed. No foragers must ever be sent out, 
for they would be as so many lost men ; and 
besides they would find nothing abroad, for 
in war-time the Turks transport every thing 
into towns. 

With all these precautions, the conquest 
of Turkey in Europe would not be a difficult 
enterprise, — provided, 1 repeat it, that the army 
be kept in one body, never divided, and no 



R R 



300 

detachments ever sent after the enemy. Should 
I be asked, how I would secure provision? 
I answer, that Turkey and Servia have 
navigable rivers, and Bulgaria, Macedonia 
and the greek provinces are fertile. 

The army advancing always thus in a 
mass, the Turks would be forced to retreat ; 
and they must of necessity choose one of two 
extremities, as I have before said, — either to 
re-cross into Asia, and abandon their properties, 
their wives and their children, since the country 
is, as may be seen from my description of it, 
defenceless, — or risk a battle, as they have 
always done, when they have passed the 
Danube. 

I conclude, therefore, that with good 
troops composed from the three nations 
I have named, French, English and Germans, 
success would be certain ; and that, if ther 
were sufficiently numerous, well united and 
commanded, they might march to Jerusalem. 
But I shall now return to my travels. 



/ 



307 

I crossed the Danube at Belgrade. It was 
at this moment exceedingly swollen, and may 
have been twelve miles broad. Never in the 
memory of man had such a flood been .seen. 
Being unable to travel to Buda by the direct 
road, I w r ent to a village called Pensey. On 
leaving Pensey, I came to the most level plain 
I ever saw, and, after being ferried over a river, 
arrived at the town of Beurquerel, which 
belongs to the despot of Servia, and where 
I crossed two other rivers by a bridge. From 
Beurquerel, I came to Verchet, belonging also 
to the despot : — there I crossed the Theis, a 
wide and deep river, — and at length I arrived 
at Zegedin, situated upon it. 

In the whole length of this road, with the 
exception of two small woods inclosed by a 
rivulet, I did not see a single tree, The natives 
use, for firing, straw or reeds, collected from 
the banks of rivers, or from their numerous 
marshes. They eat, instead of bread, soft 
cakes, — but they have not much food. 



508 



Zegedin is a large country town, of a 
single street that seems about a league in 
length. It is in a fertile country, abounding 
with all sorts of provision. Many cranes and 
bustards are taken here, and I saw the market 
place full of them, but they dress and eat them 
in a filthy manner. The Theis abounds in 
fish, and I have no where seen a river that 
produces such large ones. 

Many wild horses are brought thither for 
-ale, and their manner of conquering and 
taming them is curious. I have been told 
that, should any one want three or four 
thousand, they could be procured within the 
town ; and they are so cheap that a very good 
road horse may be bought for ten hungarian 
florins. The emperor, as 1 heard, had given 
Zegedin to a bishop. I saw this bishop, and 
he seemed a man of a broad conscience. The 
cordelier triars have a handsome church in this 
town, wherel heard service, but it was performed 
a little after the hungarian mode, 



309 



From Zegedin I came to Pest, a tolerably 
good country town on the Danube, opposite to 
Buda. The country, from one town to the 
other, was good and level, and full of immense 
herds of horses, that live wild on these plains 
like savage animals, and hence the numbers 
seen at the markets of Zegedin. 

I crossed the Danube at Pest, and entered 
Buda, seven days after my departure from 
Belgrade. Buda is the capital of Hungary, 
situated on an eminence, and larger than it is 
broad. To the east is the Danube, to the west 
a valley, to the south a palace, which commands 
the gate of the town : it was begun by the 
present emperor, and, when he shall have 
finished it, will be extensive and strong. On 
this side, but without the walls, are very 
handsome hot baths. There arc also others 
along the banks of the Danube to the eastward, 
but these are not so good as the preceding ones. 
—The town is governed by Germans, as well 
in respect to police as commerce, and what 



310 



regards the different professions. Many Jews 
live there who speak French well, several of 
them being descendants of those driven formerly 
from France. I found also there a merchant 
from Arras, called Clays Davion : he was one 
of those whom the emperor Sigismond had 
brought from France to establish manufactories 
in his country. Clays was a tapestry weaver 

The environs of Buda are agreeable, and 
its territory fertile in all sorts of provision, 
especially in white wines, but they are somewhat 
fiery, which is attributed to the adjacent hot 
springs, and to the sulphur they emit. One 
league from the town is the body of St Paul, 
the hermit, which is in a perfect state of 
preservation. 

I returned to Pest, where I also found six 
or eight french families, whom the emperor 

* Sigismond, in his travels to France, had visited the 
manufactories, and particularly those of Flanders, at that 
time famous for its tap stries. Fie wished to establish similar 
ones in his capital of Hungary; and for this effect had engaged 
different workmen to follow him. 



311 



had sent thither to construct on the Danube, 
and opposite to his palace, a large tower. His 
intentions were, to shut up the river with a 
chain extending from it; and I should suppose 
he wanted to imitate what had been done from 
the town of Burgundy that fronts the fort of 
L'Ecluse ; but 1 do not believe it is practicable 
here, for the river is too broad. I had the 
curiosity to visit the tower, which is about the 
length of three lances high, and round about 
were quantities of hewn stone ; but it had 
remained some time in this state, because the 
masons who had begun the work were dead, 
and those that had survived them were said not 
to have knowledge enough to continue it. 

Pest is inhabited by many horse-dealers ; 
and whoever may want two thousand good 
horses, they can furnish the quantity. They 
sell them by stables full, containing ten horses, 
and their price for each stable is two hundred 
florins. I looked into several, where two or 
three horses alone were worth that price. 



312 



They come for the most part from the 
mountains of Transylvania, which bound 
Hungary to the eastward. I purchased one, 
that galloped well, as indeed they almost all 
do. The country is excellent for breeding 
them, from the quantity of grass it produces; 
but they have the fault of being a little 
headstrong, and particularly difficult to shoe ? 
so that I have sometimes seen them obliged to 
be cast on the ground to be shod. 

The mountains just spoken of contain 
mines of gold and salt, each of which pay 
annually to the king one hundred hungarian 
florins. He had given up that of gold to the 
lord of Prussia and to count Mathico, on 
condition that the first would guard the 
frontier against the Turk, and the second 
Belgrade. The queen had reserved to her 
own use the revenue from salt. 

The salt is beautiful : it is cut out of a 
rock like free stone, into pieces of about a foot 
long, squared, but a little convex on the upper 



313 

side. Whoever should see them in a dart would 
take them for stone. It is afterward pounded in 
a mortar, and turns out tolerably white, but finer 
and better than any I have elsewhere tasted. 

In my road through Hungary, I have 
frequently met waggons with six, seven or 
eight persons in them, and drawn by only a 
single horse ; for it is customary with them,, 
when they make long journies, to use only 
one. They universally have the hind wheels 
higher than the fore wheels. There are some 
covered in their country manner, which are 
very handsome, and so light that, including 
wheels, it seemed that a man could carry one 
of them suspended to his neck. As the country 
is perfectly smooth and level, there is nothing 
to prevent the horse from being always on the 
trot. It is from this great evenness of the ground 
that when they plough they draw furrows of 
an extraordinary length. 

Until I came to Pest, I had no servant ; 
but there I treated myself with one, and took 



314* 

6ne of those french masons into my service 
whom 1 found at Pest : he was from Brai sur 
Somme. 

On my return to Buda, I accompanied the 
milanese ambassador to pay our compliments 
to the grand count of Hungary, a title which 
answers to that of lieutenant of the emperor- 
The grand count received me with much 
distinction, because from my dress he took 
me for a Turk ; but when he learnt I was 
a Christian, he was somewhat colder. I was 
told that he was a man whose conversation 
was little to be depended on, and that no great 
trust must be placed in his promises. This is 
somewhat generally the reproach made to the 
Hungarians ; and for my part, I own, that 
after the idea given me of them by my 
acquaintance, I should have less confidence 
in an Hungarian than in a Turk. 

The grand count is an old man. It was 
he, as I heard, who formerly arrested Sigismond 
king of Bohemia and Hungary, and afterward 
emperor, and threw him into prison, whence 



315 



he afterwards released him by an amicable 
agreement. 

His son was just married to a beautiful 
hungarian lady. I saw him at a tournament 
after their manner, when the combatants were 
mounted on small horses and low saddles: 
they were gallantly dressed, and had strong 
and short lances. It was a pleasing spectacle. 
Whenever the two champions hit, both perhaps, 
but certainly one of them must be unhorsed, — 
and it is then seen who has the firmest seat*. 

When they tilt for golden wands, all the 
horses are of the same size, all the saddles of 
the same form, — and they are drawn for by 
lot, and the justers are taken by pairs : should 
one of two adversaries fall, the victor is obliged 
to retire, and is not permitted to tilt again. 

* The knights in France were mounted for tournaments 
or battle on large strong horses called ' Palefrois.' Their 
saddles were high piqued before and behind, which afforded 
them greater means of resisting the shock of the lance than 
the small horses and low saddles of the Hungarians ; and this 
is the reason our author says, that in the tilts of the Hungarians 
it may be easily seen which knight has the best seat on his 
horse. 



318 

1 had never quitted the company of the 
milanese ambassador until we came to Buda ; 
but he had told me on the road, that we must 
there separate, that he might continue his route 
to Milan. Soon after my return to Buda, 
I called, in consequence, on Clays Davion, 
who gave me a letter of recommendation to ] 
a merchant of his acquaintance at Vienna. 

As I had fully opened myself to him, not 
thinking it right to make a secret of my rank, 
my name, or the country I had come from, or 
the honour I had of belonging to my lord duke 
of Burgundy, he had inserted all this in his 
letter, and I profited from it. 

From Buda, I came to Thiat, a country 
town where the king is said to be fond of 
residing, — then to Janiz, in German ' Jane *,* 
a town on the Danube. I afterward passed by 
another town built on an island in that river, 
which had been given by the emperor to one 
of the dependants of the duke of Burgundy, 
whom I believe to be sir Renier Pot/ I also 

# Jane. Q. Gen. 



317 



passed through Brut*, situated on a river 
that divides the kingdom of Hungary from the 
duchy of Austria. The river runs through a 
marsh, where a long and narrow causeway has 
been constructed. This is an important place, 
and I am convinced that a small body of men 
could effectually defend it on the austrian side. 

Two leagues further the ambassador took 
leave of me, and followed another road to 
return to the duke of Milan, his lord. I took 
that leading to Vienna, where I arrived after 
five days journey. 

On my entering the town, no one would 
lodge me, supposing I w 7 as a Turk. At last, 
by accident some one pointed out to me an inn 
where 1 was received. Fortunately my servant 
whom I had hired at Pest knew the hungarian 
and high german languages : he desired that the 
merchant to whom I had a letter might be sent 
for. On seeking him, he came, and not only 
offered me every service in his power, but went to 

* Q. Bruck. 



318 



inform my lord duke Albert*, cousin-german to 
my lord, of my arrival, who instantly dispatched 
to me a poursuivant at arms, and shortly after 
sir Albrech de Potadorf. 

Not two hours after my arrival, I saw sir 
Albrech dismount at the gate of my inn, and, 
hearing him ask for me, i thought myself 
undone, A little befoie my departure for the 
holy land 1, with some others, had arrested 
him between Flanders and Brabant, because 
we thought him a subject of Frederick of 
Austria who had challenged my lord ; and 
I now doubted not but that he was come in 
his turn to arrest me, and perhaps do worse. 

He told me that his lord, duke Albert, 
having learnt that I was attached to the duke 
of Bui gundy, had sent him to me to offer, on his 
part, every service that was in his power; that 

* Albert II. duke of Austria, emperor after the death 
of Sigismond. 

f Frederick duke of Austria succeeded Albert II. as 
emperor. 



319 

he defired me to ask whatever I might want 
as boldly from him as from my own lord, for 
that he wished to treat his servants in the same 
manner as he would his own. Sir Albrech 
then spoke for himself : he presented me with 
money, and offered me horses or any thing 
else ; in short, he rendered me good for evil, 
although, after all, I had not done any thing 
to him but what honour permitted, and even 
ordered me to do. 

Two days after, duke Albert sent to say 
he wished to sneak with me ; and sir Albrech 
again came to conduct me to him. I presented 
myself to him the moment he came from mass, 
attended by eight or ten old knights of a 
respectable appearance. Scarcely had I made 
my reverence, when he took me by the hand, 
and would not suffer me to speak to him 
on my knees. He asked many questions, 
particularly about my lord, which induced me 
to think he had a great affection for him. 

He was of a tolerably good size, brown 
complexion, good humoured, affable, valiant 



320 



and generous, and was said to possess every 
good quality. Among the persons who 
accompanied him were some lords from 
Bohemia, whom the Hussites had expelled 
from that country because they would not be 
of their religion. 

At the same time, a great lord of that 
country, called Paanepot, was presented to 
him, who had come with several others, on the 
part of the Hussites, to treat with him, and 
establish peace. 

These last proposed to march to the 
assistance of the king of Poland, against the 
lords of Prussia, and made, as I heard, great 
offers to duke Albert, if he would second 
them ; but he replied, according to my 
information, that, until they submitted 
themselves to the religion of Jesus Christ, 
he would never make truce nor peace with 
them as long as he should live. 

In fact, at this very time he had twice 
beaten them in battle; had conquered from 
them all Moravia ; and, by his conduct and 



321 



Valour Jiad aggrandized himself at their expense, 

On quitting his presence, I was conducted 

to that of the duchess, a tall handsome woman, 
daughter to the emperor, and heiress, after him, 
to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, and 
their dependancies. She had just been brought 
to bed of a daughter, which had occasioned 
festivals and tournaments, that were the more 
numerously attended, because, hitherto, she 
had not had any children. 

On the morrow, the duke sent sir Albrech 
to invite me to dinner, and made me sit at his 
table with an hungarian lord and another, an 
Austrian. All his attendants are on board 
wages, and no one dines with him unless 
invited by the master of his household. 

The table was square ; and the custom is 
for one dish to be brought at a time, and for him 
who is nearest to eat of it, which supplies the 
place of a taster f.i Fish and flesh were served, 

* Formerly there was, at the tables of sovereigns, an 
officer to taste every dish before it was put on trie table This 
precaution had originally been taken against poison. 

T T 



322 



•and above all a quantity of meat strongly- 
seasoned, but always dish by dish. 

After the dinner, I was carried to see the 
dancing in the apartments of the duchess. 
She gave me a bonnet of gold thread and silk, 
a ring, and a diamond to wear on my head, 
according tp the fashion of the country. 

There were present many nobles of each 
sex, — and I saw there some very handsome 
women, with the finest heads of hair that can 
be conceived. 

When I had remained in these apartments 
some time, a gentleman named Payser, who, 
though but a squire, was a chamberlain and 
keeper of the jewels of the duke of Austria, 
came, by his orders, to shew them to me. I saw 
the crown of Bohemia, which has some very fine 
diamonds, and the largest ruby I ever saw. It 
seemed bigger than a full-sized date ; but it is 
not clear, and there are some cavities toward 
the bottom that shew a few black spots. 
The keeper then carried me to see the 



323 



wague-bonnes *, which the duke of Austria 
had constructed to combat the Bohemians. 
I perceived none that could hold more than 
twenty men; but he assured me there was one 
that would contain three hundred, and did not 
require more than eighteen horses to draw it. 

I met at this court the lord de Valse, a 
gallant knight, and the greatest baron in 
Austria after the duke. I saw there also 
sir Jacques Trousset, a handsome swabian 
knight; but there was another, named le 
Chant, hereditary cup-bearer to the emperor, 
who having lost his brother and many friends 
at the battle of Bar, and hearing that I belonged 
to my lord of Burgundy, caused me to be 
watched to know the day of my departure, 
that he might seize me as I was travelling 
through Bavaria. Luckily for me, the duke 
of Austria was informed of his intentions, 
and sent him away, making me stay longer 
at Vienna than I intended, to wait for the 

* Waguebonne — is a sort of waggon, or moveable 
tower, used in war. 



departure of the lord de Valse and sir Jacques 
Trousset, that I might accompany them. 

During my stay, I witnessed three of the 
tournaments I mentioned, with small horses 
and low saddles. One took place at court, — 
the others in the streets ; bat at the last, 
several were unhorsed so heavily that they 
were dangerously wounded. 

The duke of Austria made me in private 
offers of money. I received similar offers from 
sir Albert and sir Robert Daurestoff, a great 
lord in Austria, who, the preceding year, had 
travelled in disguise through Flanders, and had 
there seen my lord duke, and spoke very 
handsomely of him. In short, I received very 
pressing ones from a poursuivant of lower 
Brittany, named Toutseul, who, after having 
served under the admiral of Spain, was now in 
the service of the duke of Austria. This 
Breton called on me every day to go to mass, 
and attended me wherever I wished to go. 
Persuaded that I must have expended on my 
journey all the money I had, a little before my 



325 



departure, he presented me with the value of 
fifty marcs in enamels, and insisted that I 
should sell them for my profit ; but, as I 
equally refused to accept them or to borrow, 
he protested that no one should ever know 
any thing of it. 

Vienna is a tolerably large town, well 
inclosed with deep ditches and high walls, 
inhabited by rich merchants and all sorts of 
tradesmen. The Danube washes its wall on 
the north side. The surrounding country is 
pleasant and good ; and it is a place of 
amusement and pleasure. The natives are 
better dressed than those of Hungary, although 
they all wear coarse doublets, very thick and 
wide. In war they cover the doublet with an 
haubergeon, a glatjon *, a large hat of iron, 
and other armour usual in that country. 
They have many crennequiniers, for such is 

* Glacon or Glachon, — -a kind of defensive armour. 
The French called ' Glacon' a sort of fine cloth that was 
doubtless glazed. I suspect that glacon in German was a kind 
of coat-armour made of many folds of quilted cloth, such as 
mir gambisons. Perhaps it may be only a cuirasse. 



the name given in Austria and Bohemia to 
those called archers in hungary. Their bows 
are like those of the Turks, but not so good 
nor so strong ; and they do not use them so 
well as they do. The Hungarians pull the 
string with three fingers, and the Turks with 
the thumb and ring. 

When I went to take leave of the duke 
and duchess of Austria, he recommended me 
himself to my two travelling companions, sir 
Jacques Trousset and the lord de Valse, who 
was setting oft for his command on the frontiers 
of Bohemia. He repeated his question, as to 
my wanting money ; but I answered, as I had 
before done to all who had offered me some, 
that my lord of Burgundy had so amply supplied 
me on my departure, that 1 had a sufficiency for 
my return to him, but that I requested he would 
grant me a safe conduct, which he did. 

The Danube, for three days journey on 
leaving Vienna, runs eastward : from above 
Buda to the point of Belgrade, it takes a 
southerly direction, and then, between Hungary 



327 

and Bulgaria, it resumes its easterly course, and 
falls, as they say, into the Black Sea at Mont 
Castre. 

I left Vienna in company with the before 
mentioned lord of Valse and sir James Trousset. 
The first was going to his lady at Lintz, and 
the second to his country-seat. 

After two days travelling, we came to 
Saint Polten, where the best knives of the 
country are made. Thence to Molke on the 
Danube, where is the best manufacture of 
cross-bows, — having beside a very handsome 
carthusian monastery. Thence to Valse, 
which belongs to the aforesaid lord. The 
castle is constructed on an elevated rock, that 
commands the Danube. He himself shewed 
me the ornaments of the altar of the chapel : 
I never before saw any so rich in embroidery 
and in pearls. 1 there also noticed boats 
drawn up the Danube by horses. 

The morrow of our arrival, a bavarian 
gentleman came to pay his respects to the lord 



32S 



of Valse. Sir Jacques Trousset, informed of 
his arrival, declared he would hang him on a 
thorn in a garden. The lord de V alse hastened 
to him, and entreated he would not put such 
an affront on him in his own house. 6 Well,* 
replied sir Jacques, 6 should he come elsewhere 
within my reach, he shall not escape hanging. 9 
The lord de Valse went to the gentleman, and 
made him a sign to go away, which he complied 
with. The cause of this anger of sir Jacques 
was, that he himself and the greater part of his 
attendants were of the secret company, and 
that the gentleman, having been also a member, 
had misbehaved % 

From Valse we came to Ens, situated on 
the river Ems ; — thence to Evresperch, on the 
same river, and within the domain of the bishop 
of Passau, — and then to Lintz, a very good 
town, with a castle on the Danube, and not 

* This relates, probably, to the famous secret tribunal j 
and the Bavarian, whom Trousset wanted to hang, may have, 
been a false brother, who had revealed the secrets of it. 



329 

far from the frontiers of Bohemia. It belongs 
to the duke of Austria, and the lord of Valse 
is governor of it. 

I saw there mad a me de Valse, a very 
handsome lady from Bohemia, who gave me 
a flattering reception. She presented me with 
an excellent trotter for the road, a diamond to 
put in my hair, after the Austrian fashion, and 
a bonnet of pearls ornamented with a ring and 
a ruby *. 

The lord of Valse remaining at Lintz with 
his lady, I continued my journey in company 
with sir Jacques Trousset, to Erfurt, which 
belongs to the count de Chambourg. Here 
Austria ends, and it had taken us six days to 
come from Vienna hither. From Erfurt we 
came to Riet, a bavarian town belonging to 
duke Henry, — then to Prenne on the river 
Sceine — to Bourchaze, a town with a castle on 
the same river, where we met the duke. — 

* These bonnets must not be mistaken for such as 
ours, They were onlv wreaths, or circular crowns. 

U U 



Thence to Mouldrof, where we crossed the 
Taing. In short, having traversed the country 
of duke Louis of Bavaria, without entering any 
of its towns, we arrived at Munich, the prettiest 
little town I ever saw, and which belongs to 
duke William of Bavaria. 

I quitted Bavaria at Lansperch to enter 
Svvabia, and passed through Mindelheim, that 
belongs to the duke, through Memingen, an 
imperial town, and thence to Walpourch, one 
of sir James's castles. He did not arrive until 
three days after me, because he had some friends 
to visit in the neighbourhood ; but he had given 
orders to his people to treat me as they would 
do himself. 

On his return, we set out for Ravensburg, 
an imperial town, — and thence to Martof, and 
Mersbourg, a town of the bishop of Constance 
seated on the lake of this name. The lake in 
this part may be about three kalian miles broad, 
I crossed it and came to Constance, where 
I passed the Rhine, which there first assumes 
this name on issuing from the lake. 



331 



It was at this town that sir Jacques 
Trousset left me. This knight, one of 
the most amiable and valiant in Germany, 
had done me the honour and pleasure of 
accompanying me so far from respect to the 
duke of Austria, and would have escorted 
me further had he not been engaged at a 
tournament ; but he gave me, in his stead, a 
poursuivant, whom he charged to escort me 
as far as I should wish. 

This tournament had been undertaken by 
the lord de Valse. They loved each other like 
brothers, and were to tilt with war lances, 
bucklers and helmets of iron, according to the 
custom of the country, thirteen against thirteen, 
all friends and relations. Sir James was well 
furnished with every sort of arms, which he had 
shewn me himself in his castle of Walporch. 
I took my leave of him, and quitted him with 
much regret. 

From Constance I went to Stein, where 
I crossed the Rhine, — thence to ShafFhousen, a 



332 



town belonging to the emperor — toWaldshutts, 
to Lauffembourg, to Rhinfeid, all the property 
of duke Frederick of Austria — and to Basil, 
another imperial town, whither, on account 
of the council then assembled there, the 
emperor had sent duke William of Bavaria, 
as his lieutenant. 

The duke and duchess were desirous to see 
me. I assisted at a session of the council, where 
he represented the emperor, — and among the 
numbers were the lord cardinal of St Angelo, 
legate from the holy father pope Eugenius, seven 
other cardinals, many patriarchs, archbishops 
and bishops. 1 met there several on the part 
of my lord of Burgundy, among whom were 
£ : r Guiilebert de Lannoy, lord of Villerval, 
his ambassador, master Jean Germain and the 
bishop of Chalons. I had a conversation with 
the legate, who inquired much about the 
countries I had seen, especially Turkey. He 
seemed to have the conquest of this last much 
?.t heart, and recommended it to me to repeat to 



333 



my lord of Burgundy certain particulars that 
I had told to him relative to such conquest. 

At Basil I parted with my poursuivant, 
who returned to Austria ; and having travelled 
through the country of Ferette, belonging to 
duke Frederick of Austria, and passed by 
Montbeliart, which is the property of the 
countess of that name, I entered Franche 
Comte, which belongs to my lord duke, and 
arrived at Besan^on. I supposed that he was 
in Flanders, and consequently travelled on the 
frontiers of Bar and Lorraine to Veson ; 
but at Villeneuve I learnt that he was on the 
frontier of Burgundy, and had caused Mussi 
I'Eveque to be besieged. I went then by 
Auxonne to Dijon, where I found the lord 
chancellor of Burgundy, in whose company 
I Went to pay my respects to the duke. His 
people were at the siege, and he himself at the 
abbey of Poitiers. 

I appeared in his presence dressed in the 
same manner as when I left Damascus, and 



had the horse led before him which I had 
purchased in that town, and which had 
brought me to France. My lord received me 
with much kindness. I presented to him my 
horse, my dress, with the Koran, and Life of 
Mohammed, written in Latin, which the 
chaplain to the Venetian consul at Damascus 
had given me. He had these books delivered 
to master John Germain to examine : but 
I have never heard one word concerning 
them since that time. This master John 
was a doctor of divinity : he was bishop of 
Chalons-sur-Soane, and knight of the golden 
fleece *. 

* Jean Germain, born at Cluni, and consequently a 
subject to the duke of Burgundy, had, when a child, pleased 
the duchess, who sent him to study at the university of Paris, 
where he distinguished himself. The duke, whose favour he 
afterward gained, made him, in 1431, chancellor of his order 
of the golden fleece, and not knight, as la Brocquiere says. 
The year following he was nominated bishop of Nevers ; sent 
jn 1432 ambassador, rirst to Rome, and then to the council at 
Basil, as one of his representatives. In 1436 he was translated 
from the see of Nevers to that of Chalons-sur-Soane. 



335 



If I have said little respecting the country 
between this place and Vienna, it has been 
because it is well known. With regard to the 
others I have travelled through, I inform my 
readers, that the journey was not undertaken 
through ostentation or vanity, but for the 
guidance and information of such persons as 
may have similar desires as I have had to see 
and be acquainted with these countries, and in 
obedience to my highly redoubted lord the 
duke of Burgundy, who commanded me to 
write these travels. I always carried with me 
a small book, in which I wrote down my 
adventures whenever time permitted ; and it is 

What la Brocquiere says of this bishop seems peevish ; 
but if mv readers will consider, that not hearing any thing of 
the two interesting manuscripts he had brought from Asia, 
there was cause for his being out of humour. Germain, 
however, was employed on them, but he was labouring to 
refute them. At his death, in 1461, he left two works in 
manuscript, copies of which are to be found in some libraries; 
one entitled, * De Conceptione beatre Marias Virginis, 
adversus Mahomeranos et InrideieSj Libri duo;' the otaer, 
* Adversus Akoranum, Libri quinquc.' 



from these memorandums that T have composed 
the history of my journey. If it be not so well 
composed as others could have done it, I must 
beg my readers to excuse me. 

THE END. 




HENDERSON, PRINTER, ) 
HAFOD, ) 



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